Can a fluffy robot really replace a cat or dog? My weird, emotional week with an AI pet

Casio says Moflin can develop its own personality and build a rapport with its owner – and it doesn’t need food, exercise or a litter tray. But is it essentially comforting or alienating?

It looks faintly like one half of a small pair of very fluffy slippers. It squeaks and wriggles and nestles in the palm of my hand, black eyes hidden beneath a mop of silvery-white fur. It weighs about the same as a tin of soup. It doesn’t need to be fed or walked and it doesn’t use a litter tray; it’s guaranteed not to leave “gifts” on my doorstep. Which is just as well, because Moflin is about to become my pet.

Before I am entrusted with the welfare of Japan’s latest AI companion robot, I meet its developers at the Tokyo headquarters of Casio, the consumer electronics firm that launched it commercially this month, priced at 59,400 yen (about £300). “Moflin’s role is to build relationships with humans,” says Casio’s Erina Ichikawa. I have just a week to establish a rapport with mine, which I remind myself not to leave on the train home.

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Can a fluffy robot really replace a cat or dog? My weird, emotional week with an AI pet

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Related

‘Do not pet’: Why are robot dogs patrolling Mar-A-Lago?

Why my picky dog loves Ruggable’s washable pet bed

The pet I’ll never forget: Dollface the cat, who was my home and my measure of love

This Is a Glimpse of the Future of AI Robots

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General Mills to Acquire Cat Feeding, Pet Treating Business for $1.45 Billion

Fluffy Feeling Ill? N.Y.C. Workers May Get Sick Leave to Care for Pets.

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