Mention robots and his eyes light up instantly; he can expound on their capabilities and how Malaysia is at a vantage point with so many resources of our own.

“I’ve been in robotics for 15 years now, and I do a lot of research. I travel around the world visiting conferences and listening to talks and making reports. I believe that this is going to be a very, very big industry,” said Dr Hanafiah Yussof, chairman of the Malaysian Chapter of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. He proudly proclaims himself as a product of Malaysia’s Look East policy from the 1980s, having gone for his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Japan, and faithfully adopted a lot of his work ethic from the East.