RoBoHoN: a phone that walks on two legs, on sale for ten years
RoBoHoN is a humanoid mobile phone made by Sharp. It launched in 2016 at ¥198,000, and in 2026 it is still on sale and its owners still meet.
Timeline
- 2015.10UnveiledCEATEC Japan
- 2016.05Launch¥198,000 before tax, Japan
- 2019.02Gen 2 launchWith sitting lite model
- 2024.02Gen 1 support endsMaintenance ends
- 2026On saleLTE, Wi-Fi and lite models
A ¥198,000 phone that walks
RoBoHoN is a mobile phone that Sharp built with robot designer Tomotaka Takahashi. It was first shown at CEATEC in October 2015 and went on sale in Japan on 26 May 2016 at ¥198,000 before tax. It stands about 19.5 cm tall and walks on two legs with 13 servos. It runs on Android and has a projector and a 2-inch screen on its back. Sharp made a ¥980-a-month cloud plan a requirement.
A second generation after 12,000 units
About 12,000 units had sold by January 2019, and about 85% of buyers were individuals. In February 2019 Sharp released a second generation alongside a seated “lite” model at ¥79,000. The target was 30,000 units by the end of fiscal 2020, half of them for business uses such as English-conversation practice and reception. Maintenance for the first generation ended at the end of February 2024. In 2026 LTE, Wi-Fi and lite models are on sale, and the COCORO plan is still required.
Owners still gathering after ten years
About 200 owners came in person to a Tokyo event in 2023, and more than 500 watched online. In 2026 Sharp held 10th-anniversary events in Tokyo and Osaka. One reported buyer in her 80s said she goes out more since getting a RoBoHoN. As a phone, though, it looked awkward from the start: a 2015 hands-on noted that, held up to make a call, “it looks kind of embarrassing to use.” A few small studies with older adults found that voice operation was easy but that responses were slow.
It lasted as a companion more than as a phone
RoBoHoN was planned as a phone, but calls are not why it lasted. Owner events have continued for ten years, and a ChatGPT-based conversation app was added in 2023. Because the cloud plan is mandatory, the robot’s usefulness depends on how long the maker keeps the service running. Unlike Jibo, which lost its functions when its servers shut, RoBoHoN has so far kept its service.
Does this product’s core function sit where users’ reasons to keep using it are?
What we haven’t confirmed
- Total sales after January 2019, and whether the 30,000 target was met
- Whether the 2026 prices include tax
- What still works if the cloud plan is cancelled or the service ends
- The share of second-generation sales that went to businesses
Sources
- Sharp, RoBoHoN launch press release “Sharp’s RoBoHoN Mobile Robotic Phone”, 14 April 2016 (company material)
- MONOist, “シャープの“ロボット型電話”19万8000円で5月に発売”, 14 April 2016
- New Atlas (Gizmag), hands-on with RoBoHoN at CEATEC 2015, 9 October 2015
- BCN, report on the second-generation RoBoHoN, 18 February 2019
- NewsSwitch (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun), second-generation RoBoHoN and sales target, 19 February 2019
- Business Insider Japan, article on RoBoHoN buyers and sales, 2 March 2019
- Impress Watch, owner event and end of first-generation maintenance, 29 May 2023
- BCN+R, RoBoHoN models and plans in 2026, 26 June 2026
- RoBoHoN official site, October 2026 (company material)
- Sharp press release on the RoBoHoN 10th-anniversary owner events (via TechnoEdge), 25 March 2026 (company material)
- Tamai et al., “Design of Health Advice System for Elderly People by Communication Robot,” HEALTHINF 2018
- Nagata et al., “A Conversational Robot for Cognitively Impaired Older People Who Live Alone,” Psychogeriatrics, 2025