Take a bow..
The President is in Japan. He had time to meet ASIMO, the Advanced Step in Motivative Mobility.
ASIMO is a robot. When President Obama met it, he bowed.
The robot didn’t bow back..
Obama has been criticized in the past for bowing to world leaders—though he’s not the first.. Remember those photos of the Bush family exchanging hugs and kisses with Middle Eastern kings?
Nonetheless, the height of absurdity appears to be the leader of the free world with the poor middle class bowing to a machine..
The voice was slightly halting, childlike. “Welcome to Miraikan, Mr. President, it is a pleasure to meet you.”
President Barack Obama bowed, looking delighted.
His greeter, after all, was a 55-inch-tall, give or take, humanoid robot with the look of a diminutive Star Wars storm trooper.
"It’s nice to meet you, too," Obama said, pausing to watch the robot, named ASIMO, perform during a tour of the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.
Despite Obama’s background in constitutional law, there’s a presidential geek side that always seems charmed, if not bemused, by technological advances.
Asimo, made by Honda, announced “I can really run fast” before loping toward a soccer ball and informing Obama, “I can kick a soccer ball, too.”
The already bizarre photo op got weirder, it actually almost looked like Obama’s face was wincing in pain as he realized what a strange conundrum of PR he got himself into..
ASIMO then kicked a soccer ball at Obama.. the President’s face appeared to get a bigger smile but it seemed to be coupled with a clinched jaw of uncomfortable feelings..
In the end, the AP reports:
"I have to say the robots were a little scary," he said afterward. "They were too life-like."
