The real star of the Mercedes-Benz keynote at CES was this little robot

LAS VEGAS—It was basically a big, blue eye on three wheels, but gosh it was cute, in an…optical kind of way. It was Cambot, this little robot that was kind of like Dieter Zetsche’s sidekick as the Mercedes-Benz CEO introduced the F015 Luxury in Motion self-driving concept car at CES.

The little robot had a purpose: To embody nice machinery. “Customers gain trust based on positive experience with assistance systems,” Zetsche said—technology that people could enjoy or even love. Just watch this little guy roll around the stage. You want to hug him. I know you do.

Mercedes-Benz opened its CES 2015 keynote with a humorous exchange between two cartoon robots: A big, brawny, Transformer-like robot with a Mercedes-Benz logo on its front, um, grille, and a little, white, kvetchy robot that looked like a modified stovepipe.

The big robot said humans were warm and fuzzy. The little robot complained that they never read the manual. See on the left: There’s Cambot waking up as a door opens…

That’s Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche coming through the door to retrieve Cambot. As you can tell from the blue, curved lines around the image, this is “Cambot View,” through that huge eye.

As Zatsche leaves with Cambot, the little white robot slaps his forehead and moans, “he forgot the manual!”

Cambot rolls out on stage with Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche. You can see a rear view of Cambot’s adorable, round head in the screen above the stage. 

As Cambot stands next to his new buddy Dieter Zetsche and scans the crowd, you can see the Cambot view at above left.

Cambot just has to check out the new F015 self-driving concept car. He gazes into the futuristic cockpit as “Cambot View” plays overhead. 

Here’s a detail of the F015 “Cambot view.” (Who decided white upholstery was a good idea for a car? Is it self-cleaning, too?)

As the presentation closes, Cambot looks adoringly at his new pal Dieter, clearly agreeing that humans are warm and fuzzy, and more interesting than some silly old concept car.