Electronic pets are surprisingly popular and not just because they can’t be killed (only stunned) by neglect. Casio’s Moflin, previously launched in Japan and now coming to other regions around the world, hopes to impress owners (or horrify them) by developing its personality from scratch until it achieves “a one-of-a-kind emotional bond with [its] owner.”
It’ll do this via the mundane magic of artificial intelligence, which is supposed to help “express Moflin’s emotions in real time, creating authentic and evolving interactions.” It’s not immediately clear whether it’ll evolve unique movements to accompany its verbal responses, but that would be kinda cool.
Do you know the Moflin man?
Moflin looks a little like a guinea pig, if one slept in a little basket like the world’s cutest hedgehog. The basket is the charging bed that accompanies the electronic pet. This keeps its five-hour battery life topped up when owners aren’t stroking and cuddling and otherwise communicating with a purpose-built AI system.
Casio says that the little droid’s personality is developed over fifty days of interactions, with communication going from “small squeaks to more distinct, expressive and heartwarming sounds, reflecting its development and maturation into a comforting and emotionally reactive companion.” How owners treat the little guy will influence how it responds, with longer interaction prompting increased personality development.
Given that it’s supposed to be an emotional support animal (which you still can’t take on a plane because it has an internal battery), Moflin’s creators probably haven’t programmed it to respond fearfully to abusive behaviour. Someone’ll give it a shot, for clout, of course.
It’s not slated for South Africa, that we know of. The USA and UK are on the list, however, with Western launch pricing putting it around the R7,500 mark. For some, that’ll be too much for a fur-covered Tamagotchi. For others, that’ll be a small price to pay for a little artificial buddy.
