The perfect room mate

Tomotaka Takahashi's first miniature walking, talking home-robot Robi was notable not only for being sold as a subscription-based DIY kit, but also for its lack of practical function. Robi's focus was on expressing emotions and being a companion. Since then, Takara Tomy has produced Robi Jr. — an even smaller robot that can kick its feet, tell stories, use more than 1,000 phrases and sing around 50 songs.

Now the company is releasing Myroom Robi, another mini version of Robi that may be just a tiny bit more "useful."