Here at Sy5 central, we like to think of ourselves as robot-friendly. So we were delighted to learn that the first robot shop assistant has been rolled out (literally, because it's on wheels!) in a Japanese department store. You can read all about it here, and see how cute he is. (Also, check out all the robot-related content in the left-hand margin.)

Personally I would love to see all shop assistants replaced by robots. Shopping would become a much more pleasant experience. And the people who were formerly employed as shop workers could be redeployed... as robot assistants. No, I'm not proposing that they be turned into Cybermen; they could become assistants to the robots. Robo-buddy could be their job title. Maybe they would get to keep the robot in their house and drive it to work every morning... Maybe I should stop this before I get carried away. Or taken away.