On Monday Llanelli-based car parts plant Calsonic Kansei announced it was cutting 60 jobs, blaming the global economic downturn.

BBC: ?70m investment for Ford factory

Professor Shuji Hashimoto, director of the humanoid robotics centre at Waseda University in Tokyo, has a theory: robots need a solid dose of those Japanese manners (don't we all?) encompassed in the Japanese word kansei, which includes feelings, mood, intuitiveness and sensibility.

ENGADGET: Japanese prof thinks robots need emotional sensibilities