It wouldn’t be CES season without at least a few fancy robots showing up. Yukai Engineering, the manufacturer of the Qoobo robot cat tail pillow, revealed a soft robot that nibbles on a user’s fingertip. The company hopes that “slightly pleasant feeling” will brighten your day.
Ham amagami ham has an algorithm called “Hamgorithm” which selects one of two dozen nibble patterns so you will never know exactly what you will feel when you stick your finger in the robot’s throat. Yukai designed the patterns – including Tasting Ham, Massaging Ham, and Suction Ham – to reproduce the feel of a baby or pet nibbling on a finger.
Yukai Corporation
“Amagami” means “soft bite” and “ham” means “bite” in Japanese. Yukai based the robot’s appearance on a character from the Liv Heart Corporation’s Nemu Nemu soft toy series. There will be a couple of finger-chewing models to choose from: Yuzu (Calico Cat) and Kotaro (Shiba Inu).
“Most people like the nibble, but know that they have to train their children or pets to stop it, because otherwise children and animals will eventually bite them with full force,” said Tsubasa Tominaga, CMO of Yukai Engineering, who previously founded the robot invented it at a hackathon this year. “Amagami Ham Ham is a robot that frees humanity from the mystery of whether or not to pursue the forbidden pleasure.”
The price has not yet been determined, but Yukai and Liv Heart plan to run a crowdfunding campaign this spring. In the meantime, the brave of CES can see Amagami Ham Ham at the fair and maybe leave Yukai’s booth with a slightly more delicate finger.
Among the other devices that Yukai will be showcasing at CES is Bocco Emo. The company has updated the original Bocco robot to act as a smart medical device. Yukai says hospitals in Japan use it to monitor patient vital signs (via attached sensors like pulse oximeters and thermometers) and notify nurses of a patient’s condition.
During a pilot phase, Bocco Emo was used to educate patients’ families about their condition. It can also communicate with patients using sound effects, facial expressions, and gestures while they wait for a nurse to arrive.
Publisher’s Note: This article originally appeared on Engadget.
