Some robots are born to carry cargo, while others are destined to wash your dishes for you. But not Panasonic’s motorized companion. Nay, the adorable ‘Nicobo’ doesn’t do much besides babble and fart.
Nicobo is the latest of a trend of robot pets designed to alleviate loneliness at home, but without the real commitment of caring for a cat or dog. It’s a spherical sock creature that responds well with cuddles and fills in your silences with simple conversations and flatulence.
Developed with the help of robotics experts from the Toyohashi University of Technology Michio Oka Laboratory, Nicobo is equipped with a camera to recognize faces, and turns to look at you when you speak, thanks to its directional microphones. Touch sensors help it recognize touches or hugs and react with a happy tail wag, and a light sensor prompts it to take a nap under sunlight.
The bot doesn’t have wheels to move around your living space, but its body is built with a moving base so it can spin in various directions or look up and down.
However, be careful not to hurt its feelings, as the cat-like pet’s framework is also built to retaliate. As demonstrated in a video, Nicobo swivels away from a human companion and farts in defiance.
Nicobo picks up words over time, though it speaks like a toddler at best. According to Gizmodo, the pet robot can only speak one word at the start, but it will grow to converse in sentences in katakoto, or baby talk in Japanese.
As noted in Panasonic’s Japanese press release, Nicobo is purposefully designed as a “weak robot” who doesn’t conceal its imperfections. Its unusual vulnerability as a robot will hopefully help open up humans’ kind and compassionate sides.
Don’t count on having a Nicobo at home anytime soon, though. Besides it only retailing in Japan, slots for preorders for the Panasonic robot have already been taken up through a crowdfunding campaign. Interested owners have agreed to pay up about US$360 for the little companion, along with a monthly subscription of about US$10 for smartphone connectivity and software upgrades.
Video screenshot via Panasonic Japan
Video screenshot via Panasonic Japan
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