I officially reached the point in quarantine where a farting cat robot claimed first place on my wish list. I’m talking specifically about Nicobo – Panasonic’s own companion robot.
Nicobo, first spotted by Gizmodo, does little more than swing his tail, turn around, blink his eyes, and talk a little. Oh, and it also claps as the mood swings. It also looks more like a padded sock than for a cat, but it’s still very cute.
On the inside, there are some advanced features that are hidden. Using built-in microphones and cameras, Nicobo can recognize your face and voice as well as turn towards you. And with touch sensors, it knows when to cuddle or hug it.
However, securing your own Nicobo is not as simple as pressing the “order” button. According to Gizmodo, Panasonic only plans to make 320 units for about $ 360 each, all of which have already been sold out in advance. The production of these sock robots has not started yet either – the company is first trying to raise 10,000,000 YEN (about $ 95,000) through crowdfunding.
And just when you think spending more than $ 300 on Nicobo, you end up with additional expenses. After six months with that, you have to shell out about $ 10 a month to connect it to your smartphone and also receive software updates.
I probably wouldn’t say it if any other product was so expensive, but for a small companion like Nicobo, it seems like the money is worth it. Then maybe I should leave my apartment more often.