To commemorate Hello Kitty’s 30th anniversary, developer Business Design Laboratory has produced a Kitty-chan robot.
This latest addition to the Hello Kitty family will be available from November 1st, a date designed to coincide with the feline character’s birthday.
The toy is unfortunately unable to walk, but is expected to make up for this with its supposed ‘communication’ abilities. With an impressive stock of 20,000 memorized conversation patterns to choose from, you can expect the robotic cat to blurt out random words and phrases at the most inappropriate times imaginable. And to aid this communication ability further, the device is able to gesture by moving its head and arms.
For anyone hoping to get their hands on one of these technological tabbies, be prepared to do a bit of saving before its release. The retail price is expected to be somewhere around the 400,000 yen (2,000 pounds) mark.
Rumours that the machine whispers, “Buy more Kitty merchandise” and, “Kitty is your new god” whilst the owner is asleep, have been strenuously denied by the manufacturers.