Went to a robot demo at the Japan Society. I was expecting something along the lines of robocup, but the demos were on a much smaller scale. The Toyota i-unit was an interesting conceptual prototype transportation unit, but was reaching for some sort of utopian promiseland that won’t exist in the near future. There were robotic seals–if you slapped them, they reacted to such abusive treatment. If you slapped their heads or pulled their whiskers, they shrieked, closed their eyes and put their heads down. I have a cute pic with one.