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Robo Idols Arrive to Music Scene, Will Collaborate with Real Idols
posted on by Carlos Cadorniga
The world of idols expand to feature some mechanical models.
A new Japanese idol group has been, quite literally, developed as "Premaid Ai". These particular idols can be assembled to create your own mechanical robot idol.
The project was developed by "DMM.make ROBOTS," a branch of the popular game company behind Kantai Collection and Tōken Ranbu. Premaid Ai comes in three different models. As their back story, each model was developed by a cheerful high school sophomore named Akane Miyahara for a contest known as "Robot Girls Collection" in Akihabara and then made into an idol unit.
The first is the Base Model, designed by the Robot Yuenchi group. The group wished to set the model apart from other robots by making it cute in appearance. Its versatile mechanical function also allows it to keep up with biological idols.
The second idol bot is of Yukari, designed by light novel character designer Ako Arisaka (Mujin no Jager, Guilty Black & Red). Yukari is simply the base model with special custom parts, but was made to reflect her creator Akane perfectly.
The third idol in the unit is Marie, designed by Yui Sakuma, the author of manga Complex Age.
Through collaborations with idol groups and anime, Premaid Ai models will receive various customizable parts and even dance data that the robot will be able to dance to.
The base model and Yukari will be released for sale in the end of November with Marie going on sale in December. The base model will cost 138,000 yen (US$1,156), while the other two cost 145,000 yen each (US$1,214). An app with dance data for the robots is coming soon for Android devices.
Some idol collaborations are already lined up with groups like Idoling!!!, Cupitron and Akishibu Project. Further information will be released at a press conference on October 29. The conference will also feature a mini-concert.
[Via Kai-You]
