- The next companion AI of Sharp, Poketomo, is a robot in the shape of a pome and in the shape of a pome with a shiny belly
- Poketomo is designed to provide emotional support, especially women in their twenties and thirties
- It combines a cute design with a conversational AI and synchronization with a smartphone application to maintain a continuous relationship
The Japanese consumption technology brand Sharp thinks it has a solution to loneliness in women in their twenties and thirties: a Meerkat powered by AI named Poketomo, which shines when it is happy and remembers your favorite coffee.
Poketomo is expected to arrive this winter (think of November or December), offering a pocket companion less than five inches high and built to discuss your day with you, and remember your shared experiences thanks to the Sharp owner model.
The belly shines in pastel tones when it is excited or comforted. His head bows slightly when he thinks. It has a set of basic body movements, all designed to transmit emotion. However, Poketomo’s heart lies in the AI model integrated into the robot for quick responses and uses the cloud for a more nuanced emotional understanding.
This is not the first time that a technological company has created an AI cute and non -threatening assistant designed to fill the social space without being intrusive. But Poketomo could be the most deliberate and entirely made version of this strategy. You do not interact with him via a screen or a keyboard. You wear it as an accessory. You talk about it like a friend. He listens, he learns and he remembers you. It is designed to be emotionally and physically adorable.
To watch
Sharp looks hard at the concept of “empathetic AI”. Poketomo can detect emotional clues and use it to initiate conversations according to your mood or recent behavior. It is programmed to offer words of encouragement and support, then to shine slowly to let you know that it is happy that you have shared something.
When you do not have the physical device on you, the Poketomo application synchronizes memories and personality data with the device, so conversations with one relate to the other. Sharp says you can build your relationship entirely with the application if you prefer, but the physical version is better, and that’s what Sharp bet that people will wear, pose and form a link.
AI companion
Although he looks like a child’s toy, Sharp says that Poketomo was designed for young adults. There is a series of promotional manga cement this fact. He focuses on a woman named Nanami at the end of the twenties, living alone, sailing on the work and stress of life and finding little moments of joy in conversations with his poketomo. Even promotional photos mainly show a young woman with a poketomo cut on an elegant handbag, smiling while he talks to her.
The question is whether this kind of stylized emotional warmth will actually feel better in their lives. Will they feel less alone because of a small robot with sophisticated response triggers?
To be fair, that does not try a human being, to deceive people unconsciously to believe that they speak to a real human, but that could make a little uncomfortable. And if the best new idea in consumer AI is “make it blurred and let it ask how your day was”, what is it said on the limits of technology? I do not think that Poketomo will be the remedy for loneliness, but it could relaunch a trend of digital animals capable of imitating with an emotional depth.
