【The Exotic Time Machine (1998)】

Tech has,The Exotic Time Machine (1998) in many ways, migrated away from gadgetry — just look at everything AI — but CES 2025 has already shown there is still room for odd, physical pieces of tech. Case in point: Look at the all the weird, fun robots at this year's version of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The massive event kicks off this week and we've already gotten a look at some of the, well, WTF-inducing robots. Here's a rundown of all the odd and neat robots thus far.

Mi-Mo: A walking stool, lamp thing

The Mi-Mo robot from Japanese robotics company Jizai looks like a Pixar creation. It looks a wooden stool with a desk lamp for a head.

As Mashable's Haley Henschel, who is on the ground in Vegas, phrased it: "I'd describe it as the love child of a mid-century modern table and one of Sid from Toy Story's mutant toys. (Affectionately!)"

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

As far as practical applications, however, Mi-Mo did little more than greet passersby and look cute.

R2D3: A super-charged domestic robot

Mashable's Chance Townsend described xOpenDroids’ R2D3 as an early standout of CES 2025. It's a domestic robot aimed at doing your chores, things like folding clothes or washing dishes. And frankly, it does look like a robot you'd spot in some futuristic movie.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Saros Z70: A vacuum that also grabs stuff

Robot vacuums aren't anything new or weird. We here at Mashable cover the latest in robot vacuums on a daily basis.

But the new Roborock Saros Z70, debuted at CES 2025, isn't just any robot vac. It's a robot vacuum with a grabby, arm thing. That robotic arm means it can tidy your home even better than before by performing tasks like picking up stray socks. It won't just avoid objects, it'll clean them. Though, as Henschel writes, while the robot vacuum is neat, the real WTF moment is the price-tag: it's likely to sell for around $2,000.

Mirumi: A little furry monster thing

Yukai Engineering showed off it's cute little robot monster called the Mirumi at CES 2025. Its whole purpose is to be tiny, cute, and to turn its head to look cute at passersby. Mashable's Matt Binder wrote his immediate reaction was, "Damn, people are going to love this."

The concept is to give folks a cute, robotic companion "designed to recreate people's joyful experiences of noticing a human baby as he/she tries to interact with them," Yukai Engineering noted. And, to be fair, the Mirumi does look adorable.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Nékojita FuFu: A little cat to cool off your beverage

Here's another one from Yukai Engineering: a tiny robotic cat that'll cool your coffee. The kitty-shaped robot hangs off the side of a mug and blows air at algorithmically determined intervals to cool your hot drink, TechCrunch noted. Dubbed the Nékojita FuFu, it is both cute and a truly strange product.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Ballie: A rolling projector

Samsung's BB-8-looking robot will soon be an actual product you can purchase. Ballie first made headlines at CES 2020, but as CNET noted Samsung used CES 2025 to announce the rolling home robot will actually start shipping this year. (Full disclosure, CNET is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.)

Ballie will apparently be able to roll around your home, do voice-command tasks, and project media onto various surfaces.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.