Self-riding bikes? Check. Self-driving cars? Check. Robotic goat you can ride? Well, we'll check that too but we're not sure why

Kawasaki Builds RoboGoat to protect the streets of a city near you

We're not sure if this was a question anyone actually asked but Kawasaki has answered it anyway: is it possible to make a robotic goat wit horns that light up that you can ride?

Well, let's just cut to the chase here, shall we? Apparently it is. However, what hasn't been answered is 'why?'

Firstly, here are the details and then you can decide for yourselves if Kawasaki really has lost the collective plot or if there is method in their all-too-apparent madness!

Called the Bex, after the Middle-East native Ibex, this is the product of Kawasaki's humanoid programme. This is run in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Bex - or RoboGoat, if you prefer - is a product of that research and was displayed at the International Robot Exhibition (we kid you not!).

This is the second robot to come out of the partnership, the first being Kaleido, which is as good an argument for stopping all research on robots as I have ever seen: any future that has a place for Kaleido in it isn't one I'm particularly looking forward to. Kawasaki claims it is smarter than a human being, so not only does it look like it would kill you, it will probably come up with a good reason why it should.

Perhaps Kawasaki realised that Kaleido would give every child - and adult, come to that - permanent nightmares and so thought of something a little less terrifying for the next project. Hence Bex - a robotic goat. With wheels on its knees. Because, well, you know.....

Not only can Bex walk around, kneel down and then wheel itself around on its knee-wheels, but it can also carry a passenger. Again, for what reason isn't made clear. Perhaps Kawasaki is looking forward to a time when both motorcycles and goats are extinct and we need an alternative form of transport?

Kaleido was designed to be a tool to assist people trapped in disaster zones but quite what the purpose of a robotic goat is, we're not sure. Yes, sure, it demonstrates the technology but couldn't they have come up with something that the rest of us could look at and go, 'oh, yes, that could be useful,' rather than merely causing us to scratch our heads?