The future looks bleak for humans who like working, and car factories are the most cliched example of efficient robots replacing fat unionized humans. Unless the factory in question is Mercedes, which has recently replaced some machines with good old-fashioned people. 
 
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 According to a Bloomberg report, Mercedes is on a trend of replacing fixed robots either with humans, or smaller, more flexible machines. The problems are being caused by the array of options on the new S-Class—four different hub caps and various trim options confused the poor robots, but are no match for our opposable thumbs and high-resolution eyeballs. 
 
 The problems aren’t specifically caused by the machines moving too slowly—it’s the time taken to adjust and retool between slightly different production runs that is proving too difficult. 
 
 One car maker slightly reducing its reliance on automated production is not the reversal of a global trend, and doom-and-gloom surrounding half of all current jobs being automated in decades isn’t over yet. But it’s also a timely reminder that as good as robots get, they’ve got a long way to go to beat the human machine. 
 
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 [Bloomberg] ||||| (This version of the October 3rd story corrects the name of robotics group in paragraph 8) 
 
 By Naomi Tajitsu 
 
 TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp on Monday unveiled a doe-eyed palm-sized robot, dubbed Kirobo Mini, designed as a synthetic baby companion in Japan, where plummeting birth rates have left many women childless. 
 
 Toyota’s non-automotive venture aims to tap a demographic trend that has put Japan at the forefront of aging among the world’s industrial nations, resulting in a population contraction unprecedented for a country not at war, or racked by famine or disease. 
 
 “He wobbles a bit, and this is meant to emulate a seated baby, which hasn’t fully developed the skills to balance itself,” said Fuminori Kataoka, Kirobo Mini’s chief design engineer. “This vulnerability is meant to invoke an emotional connection.” 
 
 Toyota plans to sell Kirobo Mini, which blinks its eyes and speaks with a baby-like high-pitched voice, for 39,800 yen ($392) in Japan next year. It also comes with a “cradle” that doubles as its baby seat designed to fit in car cup holders. 
 
 The Toyota baby automaton joins a growing list of companion robots, such as the upcoming Jibo, designed by robotics experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that resembles a swiveling lamp, and Paro, a robot baby seal marketed by Japanese company Intelligent System Co Ltd as a therapeutic machine to soothe elderly dementia sufferers. Around a quarter of Japan’s population is over 65 with a dearth of care workers putting a strain on social services. 
 
 Exacerbated by a reluctance to invite immigrants to bolster its working-age population, Japan’s demographic crunch shows little sign of easing, with the government looking at robots to replenish the thinning ranks of humans. 
 
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 In the past half century births in Japan have halved to around a million a year, according to government statistics, with one in 10 women never marrying. Births out of wedlock are frowned upon in Japan and much less common than in Western developed nations. 
 
 Japan is already a leading user of industrial robots. It has the second-biggest concentration after South Korea with 314 machines per 100,000 employees, according to the International Federation of Robotics. New technology to help them better interact with humans means robots have begun moving beyond factory floors into homes, offices, shops and hospitals. 
 
 Kataoka said Toyota, which is investing heavily to develop artificial intelligence for self-driving cars, sees Kirobo Mini as a stepping stone to more advanced robots that will be able to recognize and react to human emotions.
– Mercedes-Benz is pulling some robots off the production line at its biggest plant and replacing them with … humans. The reason? Mercedes offers so many options for its vehicles (such as four types of caps for the tire valves in the case of its S-Class sedan), it's "too much ... for the machines," the company's head of production tells Bloomberg. “Robots can’t deal with the degree of individualization," Markus Schaefer continues. "We’re saving money and safeguarding our future by employing more people." The Sindelfingen, Germany, factory produces 400,000 cars annually, and while humans can make changes to a production line in a weekend, reprogramming robots tacks on weeks, which doesn't jibe with Schaefer's push to halve the time it takes to make a car from the 61 hours it took in 2005. As far as specifics of this change go, Bloomberg points to the car maker's new E-Class, which is available beginning next month. The car's speed and navigation instructions are projected onto the windshield, and the task of aligning the display will shift in some cases from two permanent robots to a worker. Gizmodo points out that Mercedes' move does not herald the reversal of the trend that half of jobs will be automated in coming decades. (Indeed, the International Federation of Robotics reports that "by 2018, around 1.3 million industrial robots will be entering service in factories around the world.") "But it’s also a timely reminder that as good as robots get, they’ve got a long way to go to beat the human machine."