NICOBO | Smart but Vulnerable Companion

We do have a crush on robots that can give our pets or lonely person companion. Previous introduction:

-->Amazon Astro, Household Robot for Home Monitoring

Now Panasonic, one of the most well-known international companies, has launched a new small cuddly robot NICOBO, which means smile in Japanese, to bring companionship to a lonely person, or in other words, bring people spiritual wealth.

It is quite understandable why such kind of robot will appear in Japan since everyone knows that the single living trend continues to grow in Japan for many years. Unlike the common robots, NICOBO is designed like a cute furry friend, providing you with soft emotional support rather than physical interaction, which means it is not going to perform useful functions, and it can't even move by itself. There is no necessity to feed it or do exercise, and there will be no mess and no bother to your neighbors.

What can NICOBO do? Well, it can recognize its owner's face and responds to the owner’s voice and touch, it can also recognize certain words and phrases and then give you a response, sometimes. When you pat it, it will wag its tail. It also gives you a sign that it wants a hug. All the skills will be gained after a longtime study with the owner.

NICOBO is not a tool or nanny, it is your intimate friend, roommate, or your tree hole. It was fully funded in 23 days, and the price of each will roughly be around USD 377 once it goes public. Do you like this “weak robot”?