Qoobo

DESCRIPTION

Qoobo is a Consumer-Robot from Yukai Engineering. It is built for Companion, Companionship. Key figures: 1 kg, 480 min runtime.

Qoobo is Yukai Engineering's therapeutic robot in the form of a round fur cushion with a tail. When it is caressed the tail waves gently, when it is rubbed it swings playfully, and now and then it wags on its own just to say hello, giving the kind of comforting, heart-warming communication people get from animals. Yukai developed a mechanism that closely mimics the complex movements of an animal's tail and programmed movements based on observing real animals. The full-size Qoobo is sized and weighted to be cuddled on a sofa or bed. Yukai reports a psychological assessment of 38 people in their teens to 30s that showed meaningful stress reductions while using Qoobo, and a demonstration with 40 residents of intensive-care and welfare homes for the elderly in which a Qoobo with a moving tail drew people to comment on it, pet it and interact more with other residents. It is designed for all ages except babies, runs on a rechargeable battery charged through a port beside the base of the tail, and does not understand words: the interaction is entirely non-verbal, through stroking and tail movement.

FEATURES