They are there to serve you. They are ready to knead and pound your muscles, tap and massage your body in more than 500 ways. They can measure your limbs, find the pressure points on your body and stimulate them.
This is not a scene from a massage parlour but, potentially, from your home. And the obedient servant is not a massage lady but one of the latest models of hi-tech chairs proliferating in Japanese dwellings.
Electric massage chairs were once found primarily at resort spas or, in cities, at the more elaborate public bath houses. They spread to health centres and airports, where customers fed them coins. In the past few years, they have begun moving into people's homes, and manufacturers now estimate several million families across Japan own one.
Many consumers are buying high-end models, with an array of functions verging on the subtle skills of masseurs. Manufacturers such as Matsushita Electric Works, Sanyo and Omron claim the chairs work 'almost like real human hands'. The deluxe chairs are typically priced at 500,000 yen ($35,000) or more.
For example, the Massage Chair VP900, released this year by Fujiryoki, gives you a 'solution massage'. This combines mechanical pressure on a single point with an air-bag system that kneads softly over a wider area. The chair's '3-D Point Navigation System' measures the sitter's bone and muscle lines to give a customised massage. A user can dial up 509 combinations of movements and strengths. They include rolling, pushing, pounding, circular motions, 'ripple' tapping and Japan's traditional shiatsu therapy - deep-tissue pressure.
Rival models have optical sensors that identify stiff points in muscles, and audio sensors that recognise the user's voice and understand vocal commands. Manufacturers predict a growing market in Japan because the number of older people with good pensions is rising sharply.