Take this for instance. In China's enduring quest to make the Beijing Olympics the bestest and weirdest Olympics ever, they're actually building talking mascot robots.
Yes, the cuddly Fuwa mascots will be prancing around Beijing to help you on your way. They'll hopefully also help you find the toilets that pop out of the ground - before terminating you, of course.

Quite frankly, I find this idea awesome, but not well thought out.

After all, China doesn't exactly score well in the translation department.

It's hard to imagine they'll do much better when they add robots to the equation.

Fuwa robot pic courtesy of Beijing Olympic Games 2008