Even drunks hang out with robots in Japan

In America, drinking a lot of whiskey is a good way to mess up your liver. In Japan, it gets you a free robot.

America: 0, Japan: 1.

Japanese brewing house Suntory is giving away robots to get the word out on its new health drink, called Dakara. There are two 'bots being given away: 500 Roomba 570s, everyone's favorite automated vacuum, and 1000 of the Suntory original Zerobo, named after the lack of sugar, calories and salt in Dakara.

The Roomba does what you'd expect, but the Zerobo is a vacuum as well, responding to voice commands as it follows a random path throughout your house. As a consolation prize for those who don't get either, there's also Dakara-shaped, desktop USB vacuums. All in all, it looks like Suntory chose sucky prizes across the board.

Dakara, via Loving the Machine