Dr. Masahiro Mori, 84, is a specialist in robotics and Emeritus President of the Robotics Society of Japan. Mori is the founder of Robocon, the robotics contest he started in 1981 when he was a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since then, Robocon has developed into the world's most famous and most widespread robotic contest, held in so many places across the globe that nobody seems to know the exact number of participants. In Japan, more than 3,000 middle schools, all technical schools and most universities hold their own contests; while the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU Robocon) is broadcast to over 200 million people on television. Mori is not only "father" of all Robocons, but he is also a "grandfather" to most Japanese robots, including Asimo, Honda's humanoid robot that was developed by Toru Takenaka, one of Mori's students. Mori's influence on the world of robotics is immeasurable. His classic hypothesis, "The Uncanny Valley," published in 1970, is still a key work defining robotic design.

There is a fine line between cuteness and scariness. When we see an object, we feel attraction or repulsion immediately. There are cute stuffed animals and then there are those scary dolls few would want on their sofa. With robots, it's the same. As their design gets closer and closer to looking like humans, most people begin to feel more and more scared of them. To a certain degree, we feel empathy and attraction to a humanlike object; but one tiny design change, and suddenly we are full of fear and revulsion. That area is what I call the "uncanny valley."

The best ideas are born in bed, in the toilet or in the bathtub. These three places are where we feel the most relaxed and our alpha waves are most active, boosting our creativity. Archimedes was in the bath when he discovered that displaced water could be used to determine the volume of things and that the density of gold could be calculated from the volume of water. He was so excited by his discovery that he ran out to the street naked, screaming "Eureka!" which means, "I found it!" I also got many brilliant ideas in the bath, including the concept of Robocon. It was on Aug. 29, 1981, when I was soaking in the tub that the image of students building and competing with robots hit me. It was a "Eureka" moment that made me jump for joy. I stopped at the doorstep, though . . . .