The future is now, and it's cute. At less than eight inches tall, RoBoHon is a phone — and it's a robot friend who is happy to field your calls. (The iPhone 6S may be advanced, but it will never make you feel obligated to recognize its personhood.)
Not only can this little buddy make calls, send emails, and take photos as a normal smartphone would — it can also walk, project images and video, recognize your face, and act as a personal assistant. It's only a bonus that RoBoHon (which is pronounced to rhyme with "phone") happens to the be the best-dressed robot-phone combo around. This fella would look right at home in someone's front pocket at the Oscars.
The video below will show you just how cute this thing really is, and all that it can do. Where a phone's alarm clock sounds relentlessly until you muster the energy to swipe it off, RoBoHon gets you out of bed with exciting reminders about your day ("It's time to wake up! You are going surfing today!"). Using a regular touch-screen device is boring, but using RoBoHon's touch screen, located on its back, is like giving your friend a quick massage.
We acknowledge that this might be a little too cute for some, and that most will probably stick with a totally non-anthropomorphized mobile device. However, that won't stop the child who loved her Poo-Chi all those years ago from squealing a tiny bit at the sight of RoBoHon.
RoBoHon is being built by Sharp, and while the electronics giant has yet to announce a price, you can expect to see RoBoHon available for purchase sometime early next year. With any luck, RoHoBon will fare better than previous bots that tried taking the States by storm.