Japanese scientists have made the world's first news-reading robots. They look, sound and act like humans. The scientists showed two robots to reporters. One is called "Kodomoroid," the other is "Otonaroid". The names use the English word "android" with the Japanese words for child and adult. They read news on an imaginary earthquake in Tokyo. The robots' creator did not say when robots would really read the news on television.

Robots are big business in Japan. Companies spend a lot of money on them. They try to make robots better. Japanese people like robots. They think they are helpful and cute. Westerners think robots are scary and worry they will take over the world. A professor said: "We will have more and more robots in our everyday lives in the future." He added: "Robots are now [cheaper and are] no different from owning a laptop".