I tried to meet Mirumi with an iron heart. There are plenty of cute robots at CES every year, that's a given, and you can't let yourself be seduced by every puppy-eyed bot looking your way. But did I immediately melt when that silly little thing locked eyes with me, then shyly removed its head.
Mirumi is the latest exotic robot from Japanese startup Yukai Engineering, the company responsible for the Qoobo cat-tailed pillow and the finger-nibbling kitty plush, Amagami Ham Ham. All it does is stare at you and move its head a little until it successfully tricks you into a few moments of bliss. The idea is to emulate the uniquely joyful experience of meeting a baby in public — a quick, random interaction that can change your mood. Mirumi looks like a combination of a new bird and a shrunken-down yeti, and its long arms let it cling to things like a purse handle so it can go with you wherever you go, and stare at strangers.
Inside the Mirumi is a distance sensor and an inertial measurement unit, which tells it when there are people nearby and when it moves or is touched. It has different responses for each of these situations. When a person first comes into its line of sight, for example, it will shy away and briefly hide its face, as it did for me. Then, it peered carefully again. Approach it and it might shake its head, “No.” It doesn't make any sounds.
Having played around with Mirumi at CES Unveiled, I was delighted with everything it did. It has a nice little weight when you pick it up, like a little kitten. And on the same note, its small movements emit a gentle vibration, almost as if it is humming. I hooked its flexible arms around my wrist, which also had a thick watch and a camera dangling from the strap, and Mirumi felt a little safe on top of it all as I gently waved her away. With a thinner perch, like a bag strap, its arms are fully wrapped for a better grip. (I probably wouldn't trust it to stay on if I was in a packed subway car or similar crowded environment, though).
The Mirumi is rechargeable and should last about eight hours before it needs to be plugged in again. We don't know what the final color options will be yet, but Yukai has white, black and peach Mirumis on display. The company plans to launch a crowd-funding campaign later this year before releasing the robot, and it has not yet been determined whether it will be sold globally.
Is this kind of ridiculous? Yes, absolutely. Especially when you consider the price: about $70, according to a Yukai rep. But that kind of ridiculousness is the whole point of Yukai, and at least for me (and pretty much every person who stopped by during the demo), Mirumi got exactly the emotional response it was made for. “It's all about making the people around you happy,” said Yukai's Hiroko Sato during our chat at CES Unveiled. I can't really hate that.
Speaking of ridiculous, Yukai also shows off a little cat-shaped device called the Nékojita FuFu that will blow on food or a hot drink to cool it for you. Its curved arms attach to the side of a mug or bowl, or it can be placed on a flat surface to blow on a plate.
The company claims it can drop hot water temperatures by 30 degrees Fahrenheit in three to five minutes. We didn't have any scalding liquid on hand to test that out on the show floor, but it's basically a small fan with different blowing modes packaged in a cute silicone body, and the fan really does blow air.
As someone who waits an annoyingly long time to take the first sip of coffee or soup because I'm really sensitive to temperature, I appreciate a no-nonsense option I doing all that work. I can't see myself going out and buying it, but it strikes me as the kind of product that makes for a fun gift — the kind that's a bit of a joke, but also works. Nékojita FuFu is expected to be released later this year for $25 following a crowd-funding campaign.
