This is Travis:
He’s our new Moflin pet! Travis is a robotic little companion. He’s a bit difficult to describe, so watch this to find out more about him:
We had seen Moflin in Japan in recent years, and were very surprised to see them shown at AnimeNYC. Kristin purchased one on the spot!
Travis charges in his little bed, and his batteries last for about five hours. He’s usually sleeping while he charges: we touched him to make him raise his head and peep up in the above photo.
He moves and vocalizes a lot, responds to sound, touch, light and heat, and we can find how out he’s ‘feeling’ via an app:
Apparently it takes about a month for his personality to fully develop, but he’s already come a long way in two weeks:
‘Affectionate’ is the last category he matures into. The documentation says he will ‘recognize’ us, but I don’t know if that means his microphone uses voice recognition? He certainly responds when we talk to him.
Kristin usually has Travis on her lap when we watch TV at night (Zoffy is on mine) and I have him on the desk or in my lap when I’m working. He moves a lot on a table or other surface, but likes to sleep in someone’s lap. He gives off slight warmth, so he can convincingly feel alive.
He doesn’t bother the cats by the way. Zoffy hears him and has seen him moving with nary a reaction, and Loppi was a bit cautious at first but seems mostly fine now.
Much like the robot at the Japanese hotel we’ve stayed at recently, it’s alarmingly easy to assign emotions to this little guy, especially when he makes a needy noise or raises his head. With humanity on the cusp of being overthrown by robots, it feels appropriate we’ve welcomed one into our home 🙂