A 4-foot robot known as “I-Fairy” was forced to marry a rather eccentric Japanese couple on Sunday.
The robot – who was bolted to her chair – flashed fetching eyes and shook plastic pigtails as she asked the doomed groom to lift the beaming bride’s veil.
“This was a lot of fun. I think that Japanese have a strong sense that robots are our friends,” 36-year-old Satoko Inoue told the Associated Press.
“Those in the robot industry mostly understand this, but people mainly want robots near them that serve some purpose.”
However, husband Tomohiro Shibata, who teaches robotics at the Nara Institute, said he would have preferred a “more clever” robot to perform the classic anti-Luddite ceremony.
“It would be nice if the robot was a bit more clever, but she is very good at expressing herself,” he added.
The I-Fairy, which is manufactured by the Kokoro corporation, currently carries a hefty price tag of approximately 6.3 million yen ($68,000).
The robot offers 18 degrees of motion in its arms, but is limited by a preprogrammed repertoire of movements and sounds.
