Robot Actors Star in Japanese Theater Production

What's the difference between Nic Cage and a Japanese robot actor? One can efficiently remember lines and deliver them on cue but struggles to convey genuine human emotion; the other is a robot.

That may have been too easy, but Cage should seriously watch his back now that the first ever human-robot theater collaboration premiered at Osaka University last week. "Hataraku Watashi" -- the title roughly translates to "I, Worker" -- stars two androids alongside more conventional performers and deals with the relationship between humanity and technology, which probably makes more sense than having it be about a family of Austrian folk singers fleeing from the Nazis.

Scientists at the college spent two months programming the pair of three-foot tall Mitsubushi "Wakamura" robots to deliver lines and follow stage directions for the 20-minute play. They are currently developing a full-length, all-droid production for 2010.

We hear the robotic thespians themselves have yet to commit to any future projects, stating a reluctance to be typecast and a desire to explore smaller, more personal roles.