[tovacinni]

Your argument sounds vaguely similar to the one that Jonathan Hurst (the founder of OSU's DRL/Agility Robotics) likes to make- he insists that Japanese robots focus on looking good while American robots focus on being practical.

I think this is an oversimplified way of looking things.

ASIMO isn't the only robot that Japan has made. The market for Six Axis Robot Arms, the industrial robots that are used in factories everywhere, is dominated by Yaskawa Motoman and Fanuc, both Japanese companies.

Meanwhile, the robots you cite (e.g. Cassie) are far from actually being practical- sure they're awesome and generate a lot of hyped up headlines, but they won't have much traction on the market for a long time.

[hwillis]

It's an extremely hyperbolic way of putting it. Rule of thumb rather than real rule. There are companies that fall on all sides, but in general there's more diversity in American robots than Japanese robots.

Japan was at the forefront of robotics research, and still lead robotic manufacturing. However the cutting edge has moved on.