A mechanical arm that picks 120 items a minute from a conveyor belt won Japan's Robot of the Year award last week, defeating a dozen other flashier finalists, including a walking humanoid, a firefighter robot and a transparent torso for simulating surgery.
The government prize, announced at a ceremony in Tokyo, is the latest effort in the nation's aggressive campaign to trumpet its robotics technology as the road to growth.
The message was clear that utility and business, rather than entertainment or academia, are at the forefront of Japan's new robotic push.