--- title: VIDEO: Barack Obama Meets ASIMO The Robot In Japan description: U.S. President Barack Obama was introduced to a new humanoid robot while on a state visit to Japan. It seemed to go well, at the time. canonical: https://time.com/75642/obama-japan-robot-asimo/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-24T15:34:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:29:04.816Z article:section: Politics og:title: POTUS meets ASIMO og:description: As President Obama visits Japan, he was introduced to a robot. They got along fine. og:url: https://time.com/75642/obama-japan-robot-asimo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea9b7d8aff94319e/69868c4613c79fb8a4191c8f/president-barack-obama-japan-robot.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. President Barack Obama bows to "Asimo" the robot while visiting Miraikan or the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, in Tokyo, April 24, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: POTUS meets ASIMO twitter:description: As President Obama visits Japan, he was introduced to a robot. They got along fine. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea9b7d8aff94319e/69868c4613c79fb8a4191c8f/president-barack-obama-japan-robot.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch: Obama Meets 'Scary' Humanoid Robot In Japan by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 24, 2014 3:34 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama bows to "Asimo" the robot while visiting Miraikan or the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, in Tokyo, April 24, 2014. U.S. President Barack Obama bows to "Asimo" the robot while visiting Miraikan or the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, in Tokyo, April 24, 2014.Larry Downing—Reuters by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Apr 24, 2014 3:34 PM UTC On the second day of his visit to Japan Thursday, President Barack Obama toured the country’s National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation where he came face to face with the tiny Honda-built humanoid robot ASIMO. “It’s nice to meet you,” the robot said in a metallic voice, welcoming Obama to the facility. It then proceeded to run around and kick a soccer ball at the commander-in-chief, who deftly stopped it. But the experience left Obama spooked. He later quipped, “I have to say that the robots were a little scary, they were too lifelike,” he said. “They were amazing.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/75642/obama-japan-robot-asimo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/75642/obama-japan-robot-asimo/"},"headline":"Watch: Obama Meets 'Scary' Humanoid Robot In Japan","datePublished":"2014-04-24T15:34:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:29:04.816Z","description":"U.S. President Barack Obama was introduced to a new humanoid robot while on a state visit to Japan. 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