The promise of companion robots keeps resurfacing, but does it deliver? The Verge's Victoria Song spent six weeks with Mirumi, a fluffy pink social robot from Japanese startup Yukai Engineering that's designed to combat loneliness by mimicking a shy infant. The verdict? While research shows robotic pets can improve well-being for dementia patients, Mirumi proved adorably boring for most humans - but became a beloved two-week obsession for Song's cat. The review raises uncomfortable questions about whether manufactured friendship, no matter how cute, can ever replace genuine human connection in an increasingly isolated world.
Unboxing Yukai Engineering's Mirumi triggers an unexpected time warp for The Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song. The fluffy pink robot - with its owlish face and surprisingly strong slothlike arms - transports her back to 2011 Tokyo, where she was researching why Japan's reputation for advanced robotics didn't translate to the Fukushima disaster response. Back then, the Japanese government chose iRobot's American-made PackBot over domestic options. The reason? Japanese robots have always been envisioned as friends rather than faceless workers - think furry seal-shaped Paro bots soothing dementia patients or Honda's now-defunct Asimo.
Fast forward to 2026, and Mirumi represents the latest iteration of this philosophy. The startup's creation hangs on purse straps and backpacks, using sensors to detect humans and peer curiously with googly eyes before ducking away shyly. It's designed specifically to ease the loneliness epidemic that's hitting aging populations in Japan and across Asia particularly hard. According to research published in the National Institutes of Health, robotic pets "enhanced well-being and quality of life" for older dementia patients during COVID-19 lockdowns. Chronic loneliness has been linked to worse physical and mental health outcomes by the , making the case for companion bots more urgent.
