Meet Waseda University's WAO-1 face juicing massaging robot. Equipped with a pair of 20-inch arms protruding from a large metal box, the $70,000 WAO-1 is designed to perform facial massage on those suffering from mouth, jaw, or facial disorders. Don't have one? No problem, just slide your brain sack between those pneumatic vice grips and we're sure WAO-1 can oblige.

Those mad scientists at Waseda University have already brought us walking and talking robots, but they now seem to have turned their attention to an endeavor less likely to storm out of the lab in a fit of rage, with Gizmag reporting that researchers at the University have developed a so-called "organic radical" battery that's flexible and transparent. In addition to being ridiculously easy to lose, the battery apparently takes only one minute to charge and can last over 1,000 cycles, although it's not clear exactly how much juice that translates to in real world use. It's also, of course, not clear when these see-through batts will ever make it out of the lab, although with transparent circuits and OLEDs also already in the works, it seems like it's only a matter of time before all our gadgets are invisible.

Aside from providing the world with great gadgets, entertainment devices and robots -- the Japanese have now answered the question that every robot enthusiast since Isaac Asimov has been trying to answer: how do we improve robot-humanoid interaction? Professor Shuji Hashimoto, director of the humanoid robotics centre at Waseda University in Tokyo, has a theory: robots need a solid dose of those Japanese manners (don't we all?) encompassed in the Japanese word kansei, which includes feelings, mood, intuitiveness and sensibility. Hashimoto spoke to a conference on "socially intelligent robots" at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK last week, saying that "Robots are going to need similar emotional capabilities if they are to cooperate smoothly and flexibly with humans in our residential environments." How would that translate from the theoretical academic ivory tower to the living room lab of a domesticated robot? According to NewScientist, who covered Hashimoto's UK talk, "if a robot's owner is sweating and has a racing pulse, say, the robot will sense this and decide that now might not be the time to offer them the TV guide or tonight's dinner menu." Still, we're sure that Hashimoto wasn't talking smack about our new favorite polite robot, the EMIEW -- otherwise we might have to sic a legion of BEAR robots on him.

[Thanks, Matt]

There are already a number of bipedal or bipedal-like bots, exoskeletons, suits, assists, and devices, but Atsuo Takanishi's team at Waseda University, in conjunction with Japanese robot superpower tmsuk, unveiled their new WL-16RIII walkbot. We know they'd be a huge boon to the handicapped, elderly, lazy, and anime-obsessed the world over, but seriously, could you imagine actually walking into a grocery store or a job interview with this thing? We can, and if they cruised into the Engadget offices we'd just be all, "You're hired."