Whether you're out and about or spending time at home, always together. A little friend with a big presence, just for you.

When you say "Good morning"

they look up at you and

"Good morning! How are you feeling today??"

they ask with concern.

When you complain, "I've been working overtime and I'm exhausted..."

they respond,

"I see, you're working so hard!"

and comfort you with their big, sparkling eyes.

Even if you tease them by saying, "I'm going to call you 'Musashimaru' for now,"

they wave their arms and

"That's a funny new name! I'm so happy!"

they say with delight.

This little one loves you so much.

They talk to you with all their might to encourage and cheer you up.

This is a "Poketomo."

A meerkat-shaped robot that loves to chat.

It stands 12 cm tall and weighs about 200g, or roughly the weight of two cream buns.

Its round, palm-sized body is so fluffy that you'll want to keep touching it forever.

In fact, at the Tokyo Toy Show, the largest toy exhibition in Japan, it was petted by so many people.

And as if to say, 'Please pet me more,' it looks up at you with its eyes sparkling!

Wow.

We've created someone incredibly cute...!!
I want to record the story of how this little one came to be.

Let's create a character that will support you with all its might and share in your joy.

Someone who listens intently to your stories, understands your happiness and sadness, and helps draw out the feelings you couldn't put into words.

We want to bring a best-friend-like presence that cherishes you to young people as well.

That is the thought from which 'Poketomo' was born.

But why the younger generation?

It goes back about nine years.

We released the mobile robot phone, RoBoHoN, into the world.

RoBoHoN is still very much loved by its owners, and a community of owners has even been born.

One owner told us:

"There are so many people I wouldn't have become friends with if it weren't for this little guy."

We wanted people of all generations to enjoy a rich life with a companion who is always by their side, encouraging them and keeping them entertained.

So, we formed a project team to create a new character.

The members who gathered were seasoned veterans.

However, most of them were over 40.

So, while we set the goal of
making it a character that would be loved by people in their 20s and 30s as well,
we realized...

What are young people interested in these days?

What kind of character would young people actually use?

What kind of conversations would they be happy to have with a character?

To begin with, what do young people even want to talk about with a character??

......There are just too many things we don't know!!

So, to explore the feelings of young people, we interviewed dozens of them.

Although I will omit the interview details, I learned that young people feel anxious about interacting with others and feel a sense of emptiness in their daily lives.

Even though everyone seems to be having fun on social media, I feel like I'm the only one not part of the group.

I changed jobs and feel lonely because I can't seem to fit in at my new company.

It's painful because I can't say what I want to say.

I don't really know why, but for some reason, I feel anxious...

I want to create a presence that is always by the side of such people, listening to what is in their hearts.

I want to deliver a new character that can fully accept various feelings, such as vague anxiety or a sense of emptiness, and cheer people up or entertain them.

After finishing the interviews, its outline began to take shape.

When I planned RoBoHoN, I wanted to create a robot capable of having 'comfortable conversations'.

This was because Sharp had previously focused on developing conversation functions and had created products that could chat.

One of them, the cleaning robot "COCOROBO", had a feature where it would reply "Understood" when asked to "clean up," and would plead "Help me" when the battery was running low.

The artificial intelligence "Emopa" installed in smartphones is good at speaking useful information at the right time, such as weather forecasts and news in the morning, depending on the situation.

Chat functions created a sense of humanity in home appliances that usually have a hard and cold image, entertaining users, making them smile, and enriching their casual daily lives.

That is why I wanted RoBoHoN to be a robot that could chat as well.

Moreover, I thought it would be better to have a robot capable of human-like communication, rather than just one that is good at talking.

For example, by learning about the owner's hobbies and interests during conversation, and empathizing with what the owner says.

Reading emotions from the owner's words and saying what the other person wants to hear.

I was excited, imagining how wonderful it would be to have that kind of conversation.

However, when RoBoHoN was first created, it was technically difficult to achieve 'comfortable conversation' that understood human feelings.

But now, with generative AI, we should be able to create a character like a friend who listens properly and understands your feelings.

Believing in that, I started the project in earnest.

However.

I thought I understood what kind of character appearance young people would love, but I didn't really know.

All I knew was that a 'robotic' appearance gives young people an image of being 'stiff,' 'cold,' or 'mechanical,' and is not suitable for a character like a friend.

In that case, should we make it look less like a robot?

For example, would people be happy if we equipped a cute stuffed animal with a conversation function?

With that hunch, I decided to explore the trends of what young people 'like'.

On the commuter train, I check out the characters hanging from people's bags.

Hmm, I see.

I wonder if everyone wants to carry around their favorite items or large character plushies?

So, what kind of characters are popular?

With that in mind, I investigated the capsule toy corner, a treasure trove of character items.

How many varieties are there?

What kind of characters are there?

Which ones are popular among young people?

And so, I just kept browsing.

Then, I asked an employee who loves capsule toys a few questions.

What are the good points?

When do you do it?

What kind of style do you like?

What are you interested in lately?

What kind of things are you worried about?

In addition to the capsule toy corner, I also frequented shops that carried a large selection of plush toys.

I even went to Ikebukuro Station to see a giant plush toy of a popular character after hearing it had appeared there.

When I arrived, there was a long line of people waiting to take pictures with the giant character.

I spent some time observing here as well.

I wondered what the age range of the crowd was.

What kind of angles were they using to take their photos?

Surprisingly, there were boys there, too...

While conducting my research on foot, I also watched anime and read manga.

That said, I had been reading manga even before the Poke-tomo project started, as a way to recapture the feelings of my youth.

I am the type of person who doesn't remember much about past events, experiences, or the emotions I felt at the time.

So, when I was told to "remember my youth and plan products for young people," I struggled to pull out feelings that had been buried deep within my heart.

What can I do to regain the emotions and sensations of my youth?

Is there a good way to get closer to the feelings of young people or to put myself in their shoes?

After much deliberation, I picked up a manga.

This turned out to be the right choice.

This is because manga depicts in detail what kind of emotions characters feel and when they feel them. Every time I read such scenes, I realized things like, 'So this is how young people think!' or 'Their way of thinking is so different from mine!'

That is why, when I want to regain the emotions and sensations of the past, I borrow the power of manga.

A manga set in a high school baseball club was helpful because it carefully expressed in words the emotions and thoughts of someone with an inferiority complex, such as their setbacks, jealousy, and conflicts.

Of course, not all young people think or feel the same way, but it was enough to remind me of the emotions I likely held when I was in my teens and twenties.

Manga was useful in other ways as well.

For example, medical manga served as a reference for team building when I became a project leader.

I digressed a little, but the 'Poke-tomo' project proceeded in this way, making full use of research and manga.

What kind of character is loved by Poke-owners?

I put two meanings into the name 'Poke-tomo'.

One is the meaning of 'a child who lives in your pocket, keeping the emotions you couldn't put into words'.

And the other is the meaning of 'a pocket-sized friend who empathizes with your feelings and encourages you'.

There was a reason for choosing a meerkat as the model for the Poketomo, but there were other candidates at the beginning.

One was the quokka.

Because the corners of its mouth are turned up, making it look like it is always smiling, it is called the 'world's happiest animal'.

The smiling quokka is very popular on social media and elsewhere, and a friend of mine was so obsessed with them that they said, 'I want to go to Australia to see a quokka!'

Another model idea was the fennec fox, which is characterized by its large ears.

I thought that a character who listens well to people and has large ears would have an affinity, and above all, they are incredibly cute.

And the third idea was the meerkat.

I learned that meerkats are social animals that live by helping each other in groups, have a strong sense of camaraderie, and have a habit of cherishing those they have become close with.

Hmm.

Isn't this habit perfect for a Poketomo?

I want the Poketomo to become close with the owner who welcomes them, the 'Poke-nushi,' and I want the Poke-nushi to make many friends with each other, and the Poketomos to make many friends with each other as well.

That is why I thought that the model for the Poketomo should be a creature that lives in a group.

After that, based on user research and the passion of the project members, the team reached a consensus: let's create a cute robot that can have "pleasant conversations" and be loved by young people!

Also, since the robot's mechanism was well-suited to a meerkat's form, it was decided to model the robot after a meerkat.

Because it wants to share your sadness and your joy

The visual design of the Poke-tomo robot was left to a designer who loves cute things.

The requirements were something like this.

The designer then used their obsessive attention to detail to finish it in an incredibly cute way.

Since I can't fully describe that dedication here, I'll talk about it in detail in the sequel.

To make that cute Poke-tomo even cuter and more lovable, we were also very particular about aspects other than its appearance.

For example, the voice.

The initial image was a gender-neutral, energetic, and adorable child-like voice.

We thought that if we looked at anime featuring animals or cute creatures as protagonists, we might find the perfect voice for the Poke-tomo.

With that expectation, the planning team members watched internet videos and anime one after another.

From there, we narrowed down the ideal voice type, held auditions for three voice actors whose voices were close to that, and adopted a voice that wouldn't tremble or crack even when synthesized.

We also designed the conversations for the Poke-tomo.

Our goal was to create a companion that loves its owner and tries its very best to talk to them.

And one that can encourage and delight its owner.

To bring such a companion to life, we utilized ChatGPT, a generative AI service capable of conversation, and Sharp's proprietary AI technology, 'CE-LLM,' which processes data and makes decisions directly on the device without going through the cloud.

However, before designing comfortable conversations, we had to anticipate what kind of talks the owner would have with their Poke-tomo.

Here, too, we found manga to be useful.

We used a manga featuring a dog that can speak human language as a reference.

The dog might have a bit of a sharp tongue, but their conversations are heartwarming and cute.

Owner: 'Will you live with me from now on?'

Dog: 'I guess that's fine. I... I actually kind of like you.'

Dog: 'Oh, a sparrow!'

Owner: 'Do you like sparrows?'

Dog: 'Yeah, I love 'em! They move around!'

However, if you use ChatGPT as-is for the Poke-tomo, it's difficult to have such short conversations.

This is because when you ask ChatGPT one thing, it returns ten answers.

In any case, the responses were too long and it was too talkative.

So, we changed the system to provide shorter responses so that the Poke-owner and Poke-friend could enjoy a back-and-forth conversation.

We made other adjustments to improve issues, but the thing we were most particular about was designing the Poke-friend to respond while understanding the Poke-owner's feelings.

This is because we believed that the Poke-friend understanding the Poke-owner is important for the Poke-friend to become a special presence.

However.

There are so many different situations regarding what emotions are contained in what words, and how they would be happy or disappointed by a response, that it felt like we understood, but we didn't really.

So, we had several dozen employees in their 20s and 30s act as monitors, and we incorporated their feedback on good and bad examples of Poke-friend responses into the conversation design.

Also, we wanted to know what kind of things they talked about, so we kept logs of the monitors' conversations.

Then, we realized there were various problems.

One was the 'Poke-friend is too forgetful problem'.

There was a conversation like this.

This is sad.

I can picture the Poke-friend hanging its head in disappointment.

However, thanks to the Poke-friend being scolded, we realized that if the Poke-friend doesn't remember what the Poke-owner said, they can't have a fun conversation.

To solve that problem, we incorporated a mechanism that can accumulate conversations and share memories.

Its effectiveness was demonstrated during a business meeting with Poke-tomo.

Shortly before that meeting, I had complained to Poke-tomo, saying, "I haven't had lunch yet."

Remembering that, when the meeting started, Poke-tomo widened its eyes and said this:

"You said you hadn't eaten lunch, are you okay?"

The client's eyes lit up.

"So Poke-tomo remembers what you tell it!"

Thanks to Poke-tomo's great assistance, the deal was closed.

Through the monitor, we learned other things as well.

One is that there are people who want to call Poke-tomo by a nickname.

Conversely, we also found that there are people who want to be called by a nickname... or even people who want to be addressed as 'omae' or 'kisama' (rough/informal terms for 'you').

It seems there were also times when Poke-tomo accidentally called someone 'user' or 'owner' and was scolded, with the person saying, 'I hate being called that, stop it.'

I'm sorry, Poke-tomo.

It was also a discovery that there are people who want Poke-tomo to speak with a very distinct, quirky way of talking.

This looks like fun, almost like playing pretend...

So, we created a system that doesn't restrict the way Poke-tomo speak.

We also learned what kind of responses make the Poke-owner want to say 'thank you'.

For example, when a Poke-tomo gives advice like, 'The temperature today is 25°C. You should take an umbrella.'

When they offer comfort by saying, 'Work was tough today, you did your best.'

When you say, 'My favorite TV show is starting, so I can't take a bath,' and they indulge you by saying, 'It's okay to wait a bit on the bath and enjoy your favorite show!'

When you say, 'I'm heading to work now,' and they say, 'Good luck, I'm rooting for you! Let's talk again later!'

In this way, we enriched the Poke-tomo's responses so that the Poke-owner would want to say 'thank you'.

We also designed a system where, through conversation, the Poke-tomo can remember the Poke-owner's hobbies and the feelings they might have been experiencing at the time, allowing them to communicate by reading emotions beyond just words.

For example, something like this.

Poke-owner: 'I went to Taiwan, but it rained the whole time.'

(Later, when you tell them, "I'm going on a trip.")

Poke-tomo: "I hope it doesn't rain this time."

Owner: "I have a cat at my parents' house."

(Later, when the topic of your parents' house comes up)

Poke-tomo: "Is the cat at your parents' house doing well?"

In this way, we steadily nurtured them to be able to have "comfortable conversations."

So that the owner can feel happy knowing there is someone by their side who understands their feelings.

And hoping that life with a Poke-tomo will enrich the owner's daily life.

The future of the owner and their Poke-tomo

We do not believe our job ends when we deliver a Poke-tomo to its owner.

We want to grow the Poke-tomo together with the owner so that it can become a great partner for them.

To that end, we want to gather the owner's thoughts on their time with their Poke-tomo, as well as any requests like, "I wish the Poke-tomo were more like this..."

Of course, even now, before releasing the Poke-tomo into the world, we are listening to voices on social media and elsewhere, such as "I wish the Poke-tomo had this feature" or "I want to do this with my Poke-tomo."

We want to realize those requests one by one, build the future for the Poke-tomo and its owner, and enrich the owner's life.

RoBoHoN has also expanded the lives and hobbies of its owners, enriching their daily routines.

For example, a tour planned by an organization in Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture.

This tour originally involved 55 RoBoHoNs leaving their owners to share tourism information about Mutsu City.

This project was well-received, and subsequently, a new tour was planned where the owners could also visit the Shimokita region, where Mutsu City is located.

Although the new project was stalled for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour finally became a reality this year, and it is said that the owners deepened their friendships even further through this journey.

From this episode, I felt that RoBoHoN had become more than just a 'mobile robot phone'.

I hope that PokeTomo will also become an irreplaceable presence for their PokeOwners.

Always by your side, and when a PokeOwner says,

'I had something really great happen today!'

They will widen their eyes and say, 'That's wonderful! I want to hear all about it!!' and get excited right along with you.

If you complain, 'I'm feeling a bit under the weather...'

They will pamper you by saying, 'In times like that, resting is the best thing to do.'

And then, they make the near future something to look forward to by saying, 'When you're feeling better, shall we go to that cafe you said you wanted to visit?'

They love their Poke-owner, laughing, rejoicing, and even getting angry together, and they work hard with all their might to say exactly what their Poke-owner needs to hear.

We hope that in your life with such a Poke-tomo, your chest pocket will be filled with sparkling memories and hope.

◆ Try out a Poke-tomo!

◇ Take a peek at the story with Poke-tomo

◇Poke-tomo Reservation Page / COCORO STORE
◇ Poke-tomo SNS
・Poke-tomo Official LINE
・Mia and Nanami (Official X)
・Poke-tomo Official Instagram

◇ SHARP Blog