Tired of talk about robo advisors? Fear not, because there is now a "bionic" version in town.

The language of wealth management seems to increasingly be dictated by the science fiction ideas of Robert A Heinlein or Isaac Asimov. From Singapore comes news that a  local advisory firm, Bento, has created what it calls the "the world’s first bionic advisor specifically designed for the high net worth market". It plans to expand into Hong Kong, the Middle East and Europe.

The new service has taken on its first clients and is using what is called a "proprietary robo algorithm" to create a tailor-made portfolio for each individual investor.

Bento is working with Willis Towers Watson, which will provide forward-looking fundamental research on the expected behaviour of various asset classes.

“We have created a new category in the vibrant robo advice market focused entirely on the high net worth, rather than the retail segment,” said Chandrima Das, Bento co-founder and chief executive. “Recent research has found that almost 80 per cent of high net worth individuals in Asia-Pacific are open to having a portion of their wealth managed by an automated advisory service." (She referred to research from the 2016 Capgemini World Wealth Report.)

“We are overwhelmed by the client response and the speed of their decision making to convert, given this model has all along been the forte of large institutional investors and is new to this specific segment. Therefore we are planning to expand into Hong Kong, the Middle East and certain European markets,” she added.

Tanmai Sharma, CEO of Mesitis, a Singapore-based firm, and co-founder of Bento, said: “We are seeing a lot of clients aggregating their investments across multiple banks via Canopy, and Bento addresses a gap for constructing core long-term portfolios, a need that is felt by most of these investors.”

Of course, Robert Heinlein, writer of books such as The Moon is A Harsh Mistress, once coined the phrase - afterwards used by the late Milton Friedman - "There is no such thing as a free lunch". And whether wealth managers are robotic or human, that truth applies.