Watching from his corner of the pavilion, Bob Allen, co-founder of OLogic Inc. in Los Altos Hills, Calif., acknowledged that the Japanese had about a decade head start concerning humanoid robots, but, as the Roomba demonstrates, a humanoid configuration is not always the answer.

His firm makes one-off custom prototypes for developers and start-ups. "Most successes have been with toys, and with some small projects for Disney," he noted. "The market is like the PC market 30 years ago," he added, with no reference to Gates. "If we did a specific robot product now and missed our mark in terms of timing or market, we could go down the tubes. We have seen investor groups starting to look at the industry, whereas four years ago, when we started, they were not. They also want to invest in us, but we have decided that we don't need that."

Out on the floor, the crowds -- and a procession of camera crews -- preferred to gather at the nearby booth of WowWee Ltd. of Hong Kong, which sells toys with robotic features. The main attraction appeared to be a singing bust of Elvis Presley, for $249.

CES continues through Thursday at several venues in Las Vegas, with 2,700 exhibitors, drawing a crowd of about 140,000.

Lamont Wood writes about technology from San Antonio.