Just watching him make it is worth the price alone!

Robots can do pretty much everything in Japan, from delivering sushi to even recommending what kind of haircut you should get. So then it comes as no surprise to see that that robots are taking over yet another industry: the ice-cream stand.

Japanese Twitter user @torachitech2 recently posted a video of him visiting one such robot-operated ice cream vendor, and it exploded in popularity, getting over sixty thousand retweets and one hundred thousand likes. Take a look for yourself here:

▼ “The office ice cream robot.
For 100 yen it makes you a soft serve cone.”

https://twitter.com/torachitech2/status/900695594385063937

Sure, the whole setup is basically just a glorified vending machine, but man, that is one really glorified vending machine!

It looks like a lot of effort was put into making it feel like you’re being served by a person, or at least a machine with feelings. The way the robot’s arm moves to get the ice cream swirl in just the right shape, the way he hands it through the door…

▼ …although we do have to admit, the way he slides the door shut
at the end while staring at you is a tad creepy.

▼ But then everything is okay again with a little arm-wiggle dance!
Aww, it’s not a murderous machine! …yet.

The robot himself is actually named Yaskawa-kun, made by Yaskawa, a Japanese engineering company that specializes in robotics. He was shown off at a recent “Future Exhibition” that was held at Yasakwa’s headquarters in Fukuoaka.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen one of Yaskawa’s robots, we’ve taken a look before when they created a samurai robot designed to swing a katana.

And in case you’re curious about the song that plays while Yaskawa-kun makes ice cream, it’s part of the promotional video to introduce him.

▼ In the video we learn a lot about Yaskawa-kun, such as “he came from a factory”
and that he may eventually also make takoyaki, roast squid, and cocktails.

Here’s what Japanese Twitter users thought of Yaskawa-kun’s ice cream stand:

“He’s so cute I’d probably accidentally say ‘thank you’ when I took the ice cream.”
“I would buy so many ice creams from that robot.”
“These will be super popular when they make them available for sale.”
“If it can add sprinkles and chocolate sauce, then I’m set.”

Maybe if the future of robots involves more ice cream creation and less world domination, then we might be okay once they become self-aware. Although, we have to wonder how long it will be before Yawkawa-kun gets fed up with his job and starts flipping off people like another seemingly-happy robot.

Source, images: Twitter/@torachitech2