Japan’s Robots Face Hard Times

1. Japan’s legions of robots, the world’s largest fleet of mechanized workers, are having a tough time finding work as the country suffers its deepest recession in more than a generation. Here, robots work on new vehicles at a Nissan plant in Japan.

2. Yaskawa Electric's industrial robots in Tokyo. Many robots are now being idled or returned as more manufacturers cut back on production, dealing a blow to the robotics industry.

3. The recession has also injected a dose of reality into Japan’s humanoid robotics projects. Here, a robot washes a cup during a demonstration at Tokyo University.

4. A chef robot. With citizens 65 or older approaching 25 percent of the population, Japan was also banking on robots to help take care of retirees and the elderly.

5. In Japanese pop culture, robots have long been portrayed as friendly helpers. Here, a robot by the Japanese robotics company Tmsuk.

6. The Roborior by Tmsuk. The watermelon-shape virtual house-sitter on wheels has a video camera and infrared sensors. It has struggled to find new users, and a rental program was scrapped in April because of lack of interest.

7. Sony pulled the plug on its robot dog, Aibo, in 2006, just seven years after its launch. Though initially popular, Aibo, with a price tag of over $2,000, never managed to break into the mass market.

8. The i-Sobot, a toy robot that can recognize spoken words, from Takara Tomy. The company has sold 47,000 of the bots since they went on sale in late 2007, but sales have faltered and the company has no plans to release further versions.

9. Toyota's violin-playing robot. Some say Japanese robotics projects tend to be concentrated on humanoids or futuristic to the point of being far-fetched, and can't be readily brought to market.