Have you ever been to Sushi Robo? It's a little sushi take-out place where, as the name implies, the sushi is made by a robot.

When I first heard about the place, I was stunned. A sushi-making robot? I imagined walking into a restaurant, and there's C3PO behind the sushi bar, slapping together a spicy tuna roll. As I take a seat at the bar, he shouts "Konnichiwa!!", which startles all the furry little Ewok waiters, and causes the green dancing girl to miss a step. (If you're going to have a robot sushi chef, you might as well go for the full sci-fi theme restaurant, right?)

I had to see this place. So the next day, I dropped by Sushi Robo for lunch, looking forward to exchanging some quips with the gold-plated droid. Peering into the kitchen, I saw a blocky machine with a rice hopper that spat out perfectly-formed blocks of rice onto a conveyor belt.

Yes, it was a disappointment. But one of these days, someone will catch on and make a real sushi-making droid.

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