Panasonic's Unruly Nicobo Robot Tops 10,000 Sales, Builds Emotional Bonds

Panasonic has made a product unlike its usual style. Nicobo is a round home robot weighing 1.5 kilograms, small enough to hold in two hands, wrapped in knitted fabric, with eyes, a nose, and a short tail.

It sells for 65,000 yen, with a monthly service fee of 1,100 yen. Launched in 2023, it has sold more than 10,000 units.

On June 20, Panasonic's Utsunomiya factory hosted a Nicobo user event. About 150 owners, chosen by lottery, traveled at their own expense from places such as Hokkaido and Fukuoka.

That a home robot can persuade people to cross half of Japan for an offline gathering says more than the sales figure.

It does not do chores, and it talks in its sleep and even farts. Nicobo uses cameras, sensors, AI, and cloud technology to recognize users' speech and expressions and respond.

It speaks, but only simple Japanese, like a baby's babbling. When a user talks to it, whether it responds depends on its mood.

Most home robots obey commands; Nicobo does not. It sleep-talks and even farts. These choices look like a deliberate lowering of ability, but they follow a complete logic.

Project leader Yoichiro Masuda explained that when the project began in 2017, violence on social media and the stress of digitalization had become serious social problems. The team realized technology meant to make people happy was being used in the opposite direction.

Material wealth in developed countries was already abundant, and people began seeking emotional richness, so the team decided to build a robot that makes people laugh.