Interest

Roboticists Develop Moving Hatsune Miku Doll

Speecys (the designers of Sony's VAIO computers and Aibo robotic dogs) and toy maker Volks have teamed up to develop a moving Hatsune Miku doll.

Part of Volks's Dollfie Honey line of dolls based on 2-D characters, Miku is 60 cm (about 2 feet) tall and has 28 joints (three at her waist, eight in her legs, 14 in her arms and three in her head). She also has soft skin. She includes a small computer, the Raspberry Pi 3 operated by Linux, and can be moved by the MikuMikuDance animation program. Tomoaki Kasuga, the president of Speecys, says she "uses the basic ways of thinking about robots, like the composition of joints, motion, and software, that we cultivated by developing Aibo."

Miku will be on display from September 9 to 11 at Magical Mirai 2016, a Hatsune Miku festival at Tokyo's Makuhari Messe convention center. The booth will also display samples of this carrying case for Volks's Dolfie Dream Hatsune Miku. It will be available for preorder from September 9 to October 30.

Yukai Engineering also has a Hatsune Miku doll that can sing and dance, although it is based on Miku's Nendoroid version.

Sources: IT Media News: Tomomi Futoda and Netlab: Mach Kishomatsu; Images from Gunosy, Inside for All Gamers and Volks