TOKYO: It resembles a malevolent robot from 1980s sci-fi but West Japan Railway's new humanoid employee was designed with nothing more sinister than a spot of painting and gardening in mind.

It's midnight, and the humanoid robot ... straight out of a sci-fi movie is right around the corner from becoming reality. Start-up firms in the Kansai region in western Japan and the Tokyo ...

More importantly, the industry's sci-fi ... Japanese shows to achieve international fame, leading to the rise in the ...

Not the mechanical humanoid robots the science fiction author Isaac Asimov ... A few weeks ago, a Japanese insurance company announced that it was replacing 34 key staff with super-smart Watson ...

The Me & Roboco film, which hits theaters in Japan this April, has revealed a new piece of key art and some new cast members.