WTF IS THE LABRADOR RETRIEVER?

Er, it’s a breed of dog. But isn’t this supposed to be a gadget magazine?

That’s very observant, but Labrador’s Retriever gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘man’s best friend’. This domesticated robot looks like a cross between a cupboard and a Dalek, and is designed to give people with reduced mobility a bit of help around the house. Use it to ferry shopping bags from the front door to the kitchen, safely transport a pot of scalding hot tea to the living room, or just ensure that important things like medication or the phone are only ever an Alexa voice command away.

How do you stop it running over the actual dog?

The Retriever uses 3D vision to find its way around, with a dual layer of down-facing sensors on all four sides keeping an eye out for real dogs – although Labrador does say you shouldn’t leave it unsupervised around kids and pets. Hopefully that doesn’t mean it’s prone to Ed-209-style meltdowns.

It’s designed to work on preset paths, with various ‘bus stops’ added to its memory during setup, so you can summon it to the washing machine or your favourite chair, with extra forward-looking sensors keeping an eye out for any obstacles on the way.

Shame it doesn’t have hands.

It is, although it does come with a set of special trays that it’s able to pick up on its own as long as they’re left within reach. The Retriever can adjust its own height from 25 to 38 inches, so it can stretch or stoop to grab one if required. In total it can hold up to 11kg, which is about the same as 30 tins of soup, four bricks or one sausage dog. And there’s even better news to come: Labrador says it plans to release a Retriever-friendly fridge with an automatic door, so the dream of a robot that can bring you a cold beer is alive and well.