That time Obama met a giant, robotic giraffe at the White House

President Obama, Lindsay Lawlor and Russell the Electric Giraffe. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Yup, that happened.

President Obama has played soccer with a robot and defended a bald eagle from the jaw-like grips of a robot -- and now he's talking to a giant robot giraffe.

Obama and the giraffe pic.twitter.com/HE5M7joEWr

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) June 18, 2014

The priceless moment happened Wednesday on the South Lawn during the first-ever White House Maker Faire, to highlight the inventions of America's brightest nerds. Because who else would create a giant giraffe on wheels with LED lights?

[Read in PostLocal: White House Maker Faire aims to inspire new generation of tinkerers]

The giraffe's inventor is Lindsay Lawlor, a man who once attended Burning Man, a gathering of for free spirits in the Nevada desert, dressed entirely as a giraffe.

The robot's name is Russell the Electric Giraffe -- and according to Obama, he's a true friend to the United States of America.

Obama: "The United States has no better friend than the giraffe."

— Marina Koren (@marinakoren) June 18, 2014

Pres Obama impressed by demonstration of a 17-foot-tall, 2,200-lb robotic giraffe named Russell. "I like those ears," said the president.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 18, 2014

 

Russell the Electric Giraffe also has the distinction of being one of the many, many robots to have left the most powerful man in the world simply amazed.