Robot on the Runway

In Japan ,

a new walking, talking robot from Japan has a female face that can smile and has trimmed down to 43 kilograms (94.6 pounds) to make a debut at a fashion show. But it still hasn’t cleared safety standards required to share the catwalk with human models.

Developers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, a government-backed organization, said their “cybernetic human,” shown Monday, wasn’t ready to help with daily chores or work side by side with people as many hope robots will be able to do in the future.

“Technologically, it hasn’t reached that level,” said Hirohisa Hirukawa, one of the robot’s developers. “Even as a fashion model, people in the industry told us she was short and had a rather ordinary figure.”

Short with a rather ordinary figure. A little Photoshop might bring the machine up to par. But if the robots we design can’t even make “the industry” happy, no wonder so many young women struggle with body image issues.