Displaying items by tag: Smart Doll

While we previewed the Smart Doll back in January at Mirai Inc., we caught up with the creator, Danny Choo at Anime Expo to talk to him a little about the successful launch of the Smart Doll. The doll's release was met with overwhelming success and orders have been temporarily halted as each one is hand assembled in Japan.

In our video interview, hear about the future of the Smart Doll and updates on the highly anticipated robotic automatic version with Android integrated functions. 

Let us know in the comments what you think about the Smart Doll!

The ball jointed doll (BJD) community received some rather interesting attention last year with the announcement of the Smart Doll, a robotic doll that would interact with your phone. Originally started as a joke by popular anime blogger and entrepreneur, Danny Choo, the popularity of the doll has led to the creation of a non robotic version. How does the Smart Doll compare to other leading doll lines such as Dollfie Dream? How does the Smart Doll really feel like or handle?

We stopped by Danny's office, Mirai Inc. in Tokyo to find out.

Anime blogger and entrepreneur Danny Choo has announced that he is working on releasing a robotic doll dubbed the Smart Doll based on his character mascot, Mirai Suenaga. Originally posted as an April Fools joke, apparently the joke generated enough buzz for several robotics experts to join the cause.

According to Danny's post, the Smart Doll will contain: "about 24 servo motors, a CPU board, bluetooth and touch sensors." The initial production models will run off external power plugged into the back of the neck with future models currently conceptualized to be charged via a USB mobile battery.

Features currently planned include reactions to users who pat her head via touch sensors, an idle mode where the doll will look around and shift its body, dance to existing sequences made in the popular program Miku Miku Dance, move via Microsoft Kinect, and preprogrammed gestures and movement including Android and iOS remote control.

Currently as the doll is still in the development, there is no price; however, Danny has mentioned that the Smart Doll will be cheaper than the price of standard dolls on auction sites. I am assuming he is referring to Volk's Dollfie Dream line (which is probably also what the Smart Doll's exterior is based on) which normally sells for around $1000 with the more expensive dolls selling for $2000 on Yahoo Auction.

The first version of the prototype is expected to be completed by June and we'll do our best to get a hands on preview at Anime Expo in July where Danny is most likely to bring with him.