The Ifbot was a robot created by Japan’s Business Design Laboratory with the goal of being a helpful companion to Japan’s aging population.
Developed in Nagoya, Japan and first shown around 2004 the 45cm tall ifbot was a popular robot at Nagoya’s Expo 2005 alongside Business Design Laboratory other robot the Hello Kitty Robot.
Unlike the rather emotionless Hello Kitty, Ifbot was designed to display a large range of emotions via its ball shaped head and eyes as well as it LED matrix mouth. It is rather amazing what types of emotion you can sense from such an anthropomorphic device. Lots of study and calculations went into the development of Ifbot’s facial expressions in conjunction with a local Japanese university.
The main goal of Ifbot was to put him into nursing home and keep the residents amused and alert by asking and responding questions and reading stories etc. As well as showing emotion Ifbot was design to recognize the emotions of the people he interacted with via the tone of their voice. Think of him as an advanced Alexa or Google Home on wheels with a face and ultrasonic distance sensors on his tummy.
Ifbot was said to be initially available for around $4300 or rent but we are not sure if Ifbot was ever much of a success in the marketplace or if he is still available. The goal of targeting senior citizens may not have been a great economic choice, with a Reuters news story from around 2007 reporting the residents of one home where he was located never warmed to him and he sat unused soon after arrival, most likely with a sad emotion on his face.
