PaPeRo : Shibuya girls' favorite robot

While we tend to prefer more aggressive robots, or more sporty robots, most of the 500 Shibuya girls surveyed in the latest issue of Robot Life tend to prefer kawaii (um, cuteness). The champion of the informal 500 person poll was PaPeRo, a short stubby little mini robot that looks like the lovechild of R2D2 and the Fighting Nun puppet. PaPeRro, whom we fell in love with at CeBIT, beat out such competitors as the security guard bot Wakamaru and the ifBot, an elderly-friendly little droid. We still think that PaPeRo should enter the Robo-One in the Space competition, which is totally feasible since it has few years to work it out and get in fighting shape. Click on for the list of today's best robots, as rated by a ton of Japanese ladies.

[Via Wired Blogs]

Robot Life's robot popularity ranking:

1. PaPeRo
2. Ifbot
3. Wakamaru
4. Robofie VS-1
5. Nuvo
6. Manoi PF01
7. Vision Nexta
8. KHR-2HV
9. RB 1000
10. Robonova I

[Dan @ Aug 31st 2006 9:07AM]

So does this oblong shaped robot vibrate? That might explain its popularity with the ladies...

[Perrey Z. @ Aug 31st 2006 9:29AM]

What's the latest 411 on NEC's kawaii? I don't care if he's cute or short I'm interested in getting one in a manly Blue with White or Silver dual color pattern., as long as they are under the $3,000 price range.

And i hate to say this but here goes:

I for one welcome our cute, short and lovable robot overlords.

There my first AND last time saying that.

[Gianni @ Aug 31st 2006 10:10AM]

How funny! people might be interested to learn that "papero" in italian means "duck". So a cutey name for a cutey robot

[Chief Android @ Sep 12th 2006 6:49AM]

When o when is NEC going to market and sell this robot in the Uk?

[Seniehun98 @ May 24th 2007 3:54PM]

Sadly, they arent selling them T_T I emailed them...