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AI HACK WARNING: Criminals might want to hack robots which record children and take pictures (Pic: GETTY )
Experts say they are concerned about child safety and privacy, particularly with "low-end" bots.
Parents could end up putting visual and location data about their kids online without realising it could be hacked and accessed by strangers.
Christian Grewell, Professor of Interactive Media Arts and Business, NYU Shanghai, said: "What I worry most about is the low-end market, where the producers are more focused on a quick buck and not on the security of the device.
"The investment might be better spent on a tablet that can perform the same functions."
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MODERN MARVEL: BeanQ is a robot pal and language teacher in one (Pic: NC)
“What I worry most about is the low-end market, where the producers are more focused on a quick buck and not on the security of the device”
Professor Christian Grewell
It comes amid a breakthrough in the technology of child-caring machinery.
Seven Kong, 3, is one of estimated millions of children in China with a robot pal.
One of them is known as a lime green android called Pudding BeanQ, one of the top brands among the 30 million robots designed for kids which were sold in China this year.
Seven clearly adores his friend, asking it: “What's up BeanQ? Have you eaten?” and “I wanna watch cartoons!"
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SMART TECH: The Pudding BeanQ is designed to teach kids to speak Chinese and English (Pic: NC)
"When we get really busy, BeanQ can be there keeping him entertained," Sevens work-at-home mum Liu Qian, 33, told CNN.
The clever bot also teaches tots English and Chinese.
The basic version costs 1899 Yuan, equivalent to about £212.
The award-winning toy also has a remote babysitting mode, which takes pics of the kids and uploads them online for parents to see.
Daily Star Online has approached Roobo, the company that manufactures Pudding BeanQ, for comment.
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