President Obama finds Japan's soccer-kicking robots 'a little scary'

President Obama finds Japan&#039;s soccer-kicking robots &#039;a little scary&#039;

(Image credit: YouTube/AP)

last updated 8 January 2015

President Barack Obama met a robot today in Japan and left confused and perhaps a bit intimidated. While visiting Japan's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, the president played soccer with a humanoid robot named Asimo.

At first, the president was cautious around the gizmo, and he even exchanged bows with it, but eventually he warmed up to him. "It's nice to meet you," the robot said, before approaching him with a soccer ball. "Okay, come on," the president replied. The robot lightly kicked the ball at the perplexed president. "I have to say that the robots were a little scary, they were too lifelike," the president told the Washington Post. "They were amazing." --Jordan Valinsky

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.