It's a truism that the Japanese are experts at dressing up unpleasantness in cute garb. The ubiquitous cartoon workmen characters bowing in apology at construction zones are meant to make months of jackhammering slightly more bearable. Ditto for robots and the future.

With a low birthrate and low immigration, Japan faces massive social problems as its graying population shrinks. While government and industry trumpet robots as a solution for the receding workforce, some foreign observers question the viability of a country with fewer and fewer people served by more and more machines.

Tatsuya Matsui embraces the vision of a robotic tomorrow and has evolved an interesting robot aesthetic. An architect, designer and roboticist, Matsui believes that robots are like flowers. They can be delicate and beautiful. They are endearing and need nurturing. At an exhibition of his meticulously styled creations at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Matsui's philosophy is laid out in a series of spacious rooms under the banner "Flower Robotics," the name of his studio.