Mirumi: Adorable and useless robot from CES 2025 🐻

Robots are almost always designed to perform practical tasks for their owners, like a robotic vacuum cleaner. Not everything has to be utilitarian, though. Sometimes, a robot may exist solely to be adorable. 🥰

In it CES 2025, there are a lot of important technologies being announced. Televisions, laptops, routers, game consoles and much more. Robots, of course, are a big part of the event, but only one of them has a furry face and googly eyes. Let's say hello to Mirumi from Yukai Engineering! 👋

Mirumi doesn't clean your floors or mow your lawn. Instead, it senses people nearby and curiously turns its head toward them. If you approach Mirumi too quickly, it will shyly turn away. That's it: you've read the long story short. list of its features. 🐾

Yukai designed Mirumi with long arms that can wrap around the handles and loops of bags and backpacks. This way, you can carry Mirumi with you as you move around town, and he will curiously look around. Occasionally, he will appear to have an eye contact with someone, but if that person approaches or touches Mirumi, he may duck his head or even shake it in a “no” sign. 🙈

You’re probably wondering, “Why does this exist?” That’s a valid question, and one I don’t have a definitive answer to. Curiosity about the existence of certain things is part of what makes us human. For example, why were robot dogs so popular in the 1990s, and why are they gaining prominence again today? These questions lead us to reflect on the nature of technology and its relationship to our emotions and experiences.

It is true that not everything needs to have a practical or functional purpose in life. Sometimes, the simplest things can have a profound impact on our emotional well-being. Mirumi is a charming little robot that symbolizes this idea. Wherever she goes, Mirumi has the potential to bring joy and smiles, becoming a little ray of light in the lives of those around her. Imagine people who, upon seeing Mirumi on your back, can’t help but smile or wave enthusiastically. That simple interaction can be enough reason for a being like Mirumi to exist.

The latest and greatest thing about Mirumi is that it's not an unattainable luxury. Yukai, the company behind this adorable robot, plans to offer Mirumi through a crowdfunding campaign later this year, with an affordable price tag of around $70. Plus, it will be available in two fur options: pink and grey, which are sure to appeal to a wide variety of people. 💖

These days, it can be harder than ever to justify buying a product that has no clear purpose or tangible utility, even if its price is relatively low. However, there is something incredibly charming and appealing about a robot that has been essentially designed to be cute and to bring a little happiness to the world around it.

At a time when many of us are facing challenges and stresses in our daily lives, we definitely need more of that! 😊 Happiness is often found in the small things, and Mirumi seems to be a beautiful manifestation of that truth.