Chop Bot

With high expectations I sat down opposite the Japanese robotics executive. My interest intensified when he pushed away the restaurant chopsticks to make room for a beautiful lacquer box that he drew out of his suit coat pocket. With a look of pride, he solemnly opened its lid to reveal a doll-like Japanese warrior in a full suit of armor.

The metal-clad warrior, the size of a mobile phone, shone in the candlelight as it lay beside two light green rods in the red silk lining. “Titanium,” said the man answering my wondering eyes, “and these…jade, jade sticks.” He picked up the warrior and clicked a stick into each of its feet.

“This, first technological advance in chopsticks in five millennium,” he added, “We call it Chop Bot.” And then, pressing on the helmet to widen and narrow the legs, he proceeded to eat with them. My heart sank and I replied in disappointment, “But those are no more than motorized tweezers. I was promised a state of the art micro robot.”

The businessman only winked, rested the Nippon fighter on his index finger and gave it a flip upward. Amazingly, instead of falling to the other side, the warrior stood, slightly swaying, high over the plate. Not glued to the porcelin, it took a step now and then, almost losing its balance stumbling over a sushi. “Excellent!” I burst out.

“Yes,” the guest smiled, “Like walking on stilts. Next product, two Chop Bots in samarai combat.”