As the ultimate homage to fashion meets technology, the Japanese Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology unveiled a ‘fashion model robot‘ today. She is 5′ tall, 95 lbs, can speak, express emotions and walk with grace. She will hit the catwalk in Tokyo on March 23rd and likely many tradeshow floors shortly thereafter.

While the fascination with robots is not a new thing, I remember Johnny 5 fondly, the feminine detail and media savvy (catwalk debut) proves to be a new level for effectively commercializing robotics. While “HRP-4C” still needs a unique name and some identifying characteristics to fully embrace celebrity status, this may be the mainstream tipping point between technology being used by humans to technology completely replacing humans.