Robotics pioneer Joe Engelberger sticks it to Japan's robots

Man, if it was anyone else dissing on Japanese robotics we'd probably have to regulate, but Joe Engelberger (founder of the world's first robotics company in 1961) totally laid down the smack on the Japanese robot industry while at
IREX this week, apparently having said, "These are toys that are being made," and "Nothing serious. Just stunts. There are dogs, dolls, faces that contort and are supposed to express emotion on a robot," and calling some robots "pointless, expensive and unnecessary." Apparently he thinks the world could be doing a lot better with its robot R&D dollars (or Yen, as it were) if we spent more time on robots that could actually help people (like the elderly), and less time on the "uneconomic quest for the humanoid."
And you know what? As fun as it is watching QRIO
prance around like a little ballerina, we think the man might actually be right.