ROBOTS FIZZLE: Ventura County deputies are getting...

ROBOTS FIZZLE: Ventura County deputies are getting a robot to handle a record number of bombs (B1). But in toy stores, robots are a dud. “They’re too self-contained,” said Norman Graham of Ricky’s Toys in Thousand Oaks, which quit handling robot toys. “One said, ‘Hello, there. I’m your robot friend.’ Big deal. Where do we go from there?” What’s missing? Violence, Graham says. While robots rusted on his shelves, he sold loads of Crash Dummies--plastic people that fall apart on impact.