Greatest recognized for its Qooba cat pillow, Yukai Engineering has made a reputation for itself with a number of the strangest little robots round. Who might neglect, for instance, Amagami Ham Ham, whose sole function is to gnaw on fingers, providing a “somewhat pleasing sensation.” At CES 2025, Yukai unveiled its newest, Mirumi, and it follows in these furry footsteps.
The little robotic is, in essence, a furball that mounts to a handbag, “delight[ting] bystanders” because it “spontaneously turns its head to steal a glance at a nearby person.” Very like Ham Ham’s finger munching, Yukai discovered inspiration within the type of infants.
“Designed to re-create people’s joyful experiences of noticing a human baby as he/she tries to interact with them,” the corporate writes, “Mirumi moves its head in several different ways to express its curiosity, bashfulness and other baby-like qualities and emotions.”
The agency says the product was dreamt up throughout an in-house “Make-a-Thon.” Its genesis is the Yokai: mischievous supernatural spirits present in Japanese folklore.
The bot scans its environment, utilizing a mix of movement and proximity sensing, in addition to faucets and motion of the bag onto which it’s mounted. Yukai describes the totally different modes:
- Curiosity: Seems round as soon as the bag begins to maneuver
- Inquisitiveness: Turns its head to have a look at a detected particular person or object
- Bashfulness & Cautiousness: Turns again its head to cover the face when an individual/object abruptly seems or when being tapped on the physique
- Rejection: Shakes its head to say “no” when jiggled
- Consolation: Flip its head to go searching once more when remaining uninterrupted for some time
