NICOBO: Panasonic’s weak robot, made useless on purpose

An appliance maker leaves out convenience

NICOBO began in 2017 as an employee-proposed project at Panasonic. Project leader Yoichiro Masuda said development started from a question: appliances had pursued convenience through performance, but what about people’s hearts? It is based on the “weak robot” concept from Michio Okada’s lab at Toyohashi University of Technology. A weak robot shows its weakness to draw out the kindness and help of people nearby, and so makes up for what it cannot do. NICOBO has a round, knit-covered body with a tail and cannot move from place to place. Stroke it and it wags its tail. It talks in its sleep and passes wind. It speaks its own “Moko language” and slowly picks up broken Japanese.

Six hours to fund, 10,000 sold within three years

The Makuake campaign that opened on 16 February 2021 passed its ¥10 million goal in about six and a half hours and closed the next day when it hit its quantity cap. Pledges were ¥35,800–39,800, including six months of the monthly fee. A chip shortage delayed shipping, and backers received their robots in June 2022. General sale began on 16 May 2023 at ¥60,500 including tax, with a basic plan of ¥1,100 a month. Panasonic said the monthly service, not unit sales, was the growth driver, and that the business was designed to work at a certain scale rather than by selling many robots. It limited sales to its own website. In March 2026 Panasonic said cumulative sales had passed 10,000 units and monthly churn was 0.5% or less.

Designed to expect nothing, satisfaction measured by the maker

Masuda said Panasonic decided to remove every convenient function, so users would have no expectation that NICOBO would do anything for them. In a survey of crowdfunding buyers, 77% said they felt soothed. Figures presented in 2026 included 97% satisfaction and, on average, seven strokes and 18 times spoken to a day. All are the company’s own figures, and this research found no independent study. In an interview produced by Panasonic, one owner said they tend to expect perfection from machines, and that NICOBO is the opposite, which is why they liked the weak-robot concept.

Nothing to do, so less to be disappointed by

NICOBO starts from the opposite direction to Jibo and Pepper. Those two promoted functions and emotions and disappointed when they fell short. NICOBO said from the start that it would do nothing for you, and built a relationship that continues through a monthly fee. In 2026 Panasonic announced a large language model tuned to NICOBO’s way of speaking and a wider push into business sales. Whether its original weakness survives as it learns to talk better is the next thing to watch.

Is making users expect nothing from a robot also part of design?

What we haven’t confirmed

• The final Makuake total and number of backers
• Whether the large language model feature has actually launched
• User studies by researchers outside the company
• Prices and examples of business deployments