Beginning to think the Japanese just find taking a dip into the Uncanny Valley akin to taking a warm bath, after viewing the front desk staff at a new robot hotel unveiled today in Nagasaki (via Carla Sinclair at Boing Boing).

Ahmed Lotfi and Alyxander May tout the possibilities of 3D printing and soft materials to expand robot’s horizons.

A German car factory worker died in an accident involving a robot a few weeks ago — and the international media gleefully jumped to run a bunch of “killer robot” headlines, this trade press op-ed resignedly points out. Robots have a pretty decent safety record over all, but people’s anxieties about them are clearly an obstacle for further adoption.

Worried about robots taking over your job? Try taking over their brains first, says The Guardian, suggesting that learning to program may save us all.

The future may soon bring us a phone that never dies, says Rachel Metz.

And Bloomberg has the latest on hedge funds attempting to use A.I. to gain alpha. (h/t Simone Foxman and Jack Clark).