On Saturday, January 28, 2017, TOMY Company, Ltd., (President & CEO, H.G. Meij/located in Katsushika, Tokyo) will release Motto Nakayoshi Robi Jr., a personal talking robot (Motto=More / Nakayoshi=Friendly) that users can become progressively "friendlier" with, the more they play with it. The robot will be available at the standard retail price of JPY 15,000 (8% tax not included) in toy stores and toy sections of department stores/mass retailers in Japan, online stores and Takara Tomy Mall, the company's official online shopping site: http://takaratomymall.jp/shop/

Motto Nakayoshi Robi Jr. is a personal talking robot that specializes in communicating with humans. It was jointly developed by DeAGOSTINI Japan and TOMY under the supervision of Tomotaka Takahashi, creator of Robi*1. This is the second model of Robi Jr., which was first launched in February 2015 and has sold more than 40,000 units since.

Just like the previous model, Motto Nakayoshi Robi Jr. is designed to resemble Robi in its early childhood. In seated position, it can sense the direction of a speaker and turn to face them, tilt its head, move its arms and legs and have a conversation.

This new model is colored refreshing shades of navy blue and orange as designed by creator Tomotaka Takahashi in response to requests from consumers for color options.

Moreover, the functions of the new model have been improved. It can speak approximately 2,000 phrases (Japanese) - twice as many as the previous Robi Jr. - so that users can enjoy fun, daily-life conversation with the robot. It also has a Friendliness Booster, which increases the robot's "friendliness level" as the user plays with it more. It can also call the user by their nickname.

- Motto Nakayoshi Robi Jr. Product Features -

(1) New, refreshing color combination

Under the supervision of Tomotaka Takahashi, the new Robi Jr. features a vivid, refreshing, orange and navy blue-based color scheme, revamping the original Robi's signature color combination of white, black and red.

Comment from Tomotaka Takahashi:

"The next evolution of Robi Jr. is available in a new combination of colors. I am confident that this friendlier, more charming robot will make you feel upbeat and cheerful in your everyday life. I hope you will enjoy Motto Nakayoshi Robi Jr."

(2) Now it can speak with approximately 2,000 phrases!

Compared to the first-model Robi Jr., the number of phrases the second model can speak has doubled from around 1,000 to 2,000, which makes users' interaction with the robot more fun.

Ikue Ohtani, the original Robi robot's voice actress, provides the voice of both the first and second-model Robi Jr. She speaks and sings songs in the same voice as the original Robi.

(3) The Friendliness Booster makes you want to talk to Robi Jr. every day.

The new Robi Jr.'s Friendliness Booster function makes its friendliness level increase as the user has more conversations with the robot, and the number of things it can do increases. The number of words it can speak also increases as the level is upgraded, and it can interact with the user in a variety of ways depending on the friendliness level, such as calling them by their nickname and remembering their favorite food and talking about it.

Level 1: Talks using the clock and calendar functions

Level 2: Gives quizzes; calls the user by their nickname

Level 3: Asks two-alternative questions; dances

Level 4: Asks three-alternative questions; remembers the user's answers

- Background: How the Robot was Developed -

In 2014, we determined that designing a robot with more humanlike qualities would encourage people to engage in more natural conversation with a robot. Also, the robot would need to be capable of more personal, empathetic conversations. Subsequently, we developed Robi Jr. based on DeAGOSTINI Japan's Robi, which had been popular with and loved by many customers, and released it in 2015.

Robi Jr.'s user analysis showed that elementary school children accounted for about 30% of total users, while more than half of the users were people in their 50s and over, many of whom commented that hearing the cute voice of Robi Jr. around the house made them feel comforted and cheerful. Others said that watching their adolescent child talking to Robi Jr. made them realize how much the child had grown. We felt confident that, with Robi Jr., we were able to provide our customers "a life with a robot," and that confidence led to the development of Motto Nakayoshi Robi Jr., that can provide more spontaneous and pleasant conversations would be possible.

We will continue developing products in our Omnibot robot series to provide users with opportunities for more fun and spontaneous interactions with our robots, to contribute to increased conversation among family members, and to bring people closer together.

*1: What is Robi?:

Robi is a robot which can be fully assembled from parts that come with each issue of Weekly Magazine'Robi'. Owners love watching the robot's adorable movements and enjoy conversations with it. Robi is a 100%-original robot designed exclusively for this project by Tomotaka Takahashi, a world-famous robot creator. Robi can engage in natural communication with humans and has its own communication scenarios which make humanlike, spontaneous conversations with owners possible.

As of June 2016, some 120,000 units of Robi are with their owners in Japan.

Also, the Japanese phrases have been translated into English (UK), Mandarin, Cantonese and Italian, and the robot is now available in Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the UK, China and Singapore. (In Taiwan, Weekly Magazine'Robi' was the top-selling magazine in 2014.) TOMY intends to increase its efforts in the global launch of the product.

Official Website: http://deagostini.jp/rb3/

*2: What is the Omnibot Series?:

Omnibot is the name applied to the full-scale line of home robots created by TOMY in 1984. From the beginning, TOMY was committed to launching robots that made the idea of "a life with a robot" more accessible to people. Later, the company created a variety of robots including Armtron and Verbot/KI*KU*ZO from the TOMY Robot series and i-SOBOT, an advanced Omnibot. Released in 1984, the initial Omnibot was a big robot which was 40 cm tall and weighed 4.5 kg. It was remote-controlled and came with a cassette tape player that could record and play back commands over and over. With the cassette player and also the timer function, users could program the robot to play back certain sound and movement recordings at specific times.

In 2014, TOMY rebooted the Omnibot series as a line of next-generation entertainment robots, and its releases have included Hello! MiP, a robot which can be controlled intuitively just by using hand gestures and without touching it; Hello! Zoomer, a robotic puppy that understands human language; Robi Jr., a personal talking robot specializing in communicating with humans; and OHaNAS, a cloud-based talking robot jointly developed with NTT Docomo. In August this year, under the slogan, "Laughing all the way to 2020," the Baku Showtaro comedian robot was released. With over 1,300 built-in jokes, it has been met with a favorable reception. Fourteen products from the series are currently on sale.

The Official Omnibot Website: http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/omnibot/

- Product Outline -

Product Name: Motto Nakayoshi Robi Jr.

SRP: JPY 15,000 (tax not included)

Launch Date in Japan: Saturday, January 28, 2017 (Scheduled)

Recommended Age: 6 years and up

Package Contents: Robot, User Manual

Dimensions: W 200 mm, H 200 mm , D 170 mm

Batteries Required: 4  AAA alkaline (not included)

First Year Sales Target: 30,000 units

Sales Channels: Toy stores and toy sections of department stores/mass retailers in Japan, online stores,

TOMY's official shopping site 'Takara Tomy Mall' (http://takaratomymall.jp)

Copyright: (c) TOMY (c) DeAGOSTINI

Website: http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/products/omnibot/robi_nakayoshi/ (Japanese only)