From tiny cats that settle down tea to a blinking AI companion supposed to mix along with your family members, listed below are seven cute robots which have dominated info feeds since remaining week’s Shopper Electronics Current – and what they inform us about “cuteness” in design.
Cuteness and what it does to our brains has been a subject of scientific enquiry for a while now. The sight of a kid or pet has been confirmed to activate areas inside the thoughts associated to emotion and pleasure and to set off empathy and compassion.
This has led to the idea that cuteness inside product design could be used as a instrument to fluctuate shopper behaviour, with designers exploring the sophisticated nature of cuteness by way of works just like a toaster that sneezes bread crumbs and a vacuum cleaner that poos when it’s full.
And judging from remaining week’s Shopper Electronics Current (CES) in Las Vegas, 2025 is the yr this idea truly landed. Is the aim to simply convey considerably pleasure into our lives? Or to encourage us to embrace utilized sciences we might in another case be important of?
Study on for seven units from CES that caught our consideration for his or her attention-grabbing use of cuteness.
Mirumi by Yukai Engineering
Designed to do nothing apart from be cute, Mirumi charmed the crowds at CES with its harmlessness. The fluffy robotic clips onto a bag or strap and seems out on the world by way of enormous, spherical eyes like a human little one filled with shock and curiosity.
It moreover expresses shyness, turning its head away and hiding if any person will get too shut too instantly.
The abstracted, minimal design demonstrates the flip side of the phenomenon generally called “uncanny valley”. Whereas artificial creations that look too smart are more likely to discomfort of us, we are going to uncover an uncomplicated smiley face or cartoon character deeply relatable.
Nékojita FuFu by Yukai Engineering
Solidifying its dominance on this planet of cute-but-frivolous robotics, Japanese agency Yukai Engineering moreover showcased Nékojita FuFu – a tiny minimalistic cat that does nothing better than blow air to relax down scorching meals and drinks.
Named after the sound folks make after they blow out, the robotic makes use of a specific “Fu-ing” algorithm that anthropomorphically randomises the ability and rhythm of its blowing by way of an inside fan.
It’d sound uncommon that this novelty gadget obtained rather a lot consideration at CES, the an identical hyper-competitive tech sincere the place Nvidia dropped an AI supercomputer scarcely better than a deck of taking part in playing cards.
Nonetheless, it’s doable that the overwhelming tempo of improvement and nervousness over the anticipated arrival of an artificial frequent intelligence, is precisely what makes simple Nékojita FuFu so attention-grabbing.
Ai Me by TCL
Simple was not the watchword amongst all the companies harnessing cuteness, however. Usually, the cartoonish product design is meant to help consumers actually really feel an emotional connection to what might in another case be a tricky, shiny and even off-putting tech product.
This seems to be true for the Ai Me companion robotic from US agency TCL. Like Yukai Engineering’s Mirumi, the design takes cues from human infants – although on this case, the gadget is stuffed with sensors, cameras and AI tech.
Along with being an interactive toy for the youthful relations, the gadget is designed to help out adults by syncing with smart home models, independently roaming the home to look at security and seize motion pictures of day-to-day life.
The robotic’s cute, spherical variety is enhanced by its digital blinking eyes, arms that flap with pleasure and even changeable textile outfits – like an anthropomorphic improvement of the cosy experience improvement. Whereas Ai Me is an concept at this stage, TCL confirmed a working prototype at CES.
Loona by KEYi Tech
Like Ai Me, Loona brings AI tech and surveillance into the home by attention-grabbing to the youngest relations. It would even be customised with outfits – this time crocheted.
Nonetheless whereas Ai Me is primarily impressed by infants, Loona is modelled on pets and derives its cuteness from animal-like behaviours just like waggling its ears, chasing balls or laser pointers for play, and stretching and sneezing when it wakes up.
Loona is already out there for buy and Chinese language language producer KEYi Tech suggests it makes an amazing companion robotic not just for youngsters and adults nevertheless for the precise family pet, which may in another case be at home alone for lots of hours of the day.
Ballie by Samsung
Whereas not as exaggeratedly cute as the other robots on this itemizing, Samsung’s AI robotic assistant Ballie has been labelled with this time interval as a result of it made its debut as an concept once more at CES 2020.
It is a primary occasion of how cuteness is about better than seems to be like; on this case, it is largely a component of Ballie’s bijou dimension and the zippy method it strikes spherical, which have prolonged earned it comparisons to the Star Wars mini ball droid BB-8.
Updated for CES 2025 and anticipated to lastly launch as a product this yr, Ballie is supposed to be a whole non-public home assistant that will deal with smart house tools, ship video updates of pets or relations at home, enterprise motion pictures, play music and reply calls.
Jennie by Tombot
Created in collaboration with Jim Henson’s Creature Retailer, the puppet workshop based mostly by the creator of The Muppets, Jennie is a departure from the other cute robots on this itemizing in its realism.
Whereas to some, the uncanny valley affect may be inescapable proper right here, for US producer Tombot the verisimilitude is significant because of it helps Jennie be a part of with people who’ve dementia or cognitive impairment to supply some much-needed companionship.
Jennie is a robotic pet and a robotic pet solely – no surveillance or chatbot conversations. It responds to pats and voice directions, produces AI-generated barks and serves as a cuddly emotional assist.
Reolink Duo 3 WiFi by Reolink
Tech agency Reolink doesn’t level out cuteness as a design decision inside the press launch for its Duo 3 WiFi surveillance digicam. Nonetheless its twin lenses clearly resemble a pair of huge, googly eyes with antennas for ears.
If this generally is a surveillance digicam with an intentionally nice face, then cuteness has successfully and really arrived as a dominant – and unsettling – aesthetic in tech.
CES 2025 occurred in Las Vegas from 7 to 10 January 2025. See Dezeen Events Data for an up-to-date itemizing of construction and design events happening world huge.