The bizarre device comes from the wackily creative minds of Yukai Engineering Co., a Tokyo-based electronics company. It’s two pounds of fluff that features neither limbs nor a face, but even without those key features, may be enough to satisfy your need for fluff. Like a real cat, it will respond to your touch, but unlike a real cat, it will only vibrate or wag its tail. Come to think of it, if real cats only had those two reactions, things wouldn’t be so bad either.
One “uses” the Qoobo by placing it in your lap, where it will stay for as long as you like (again, unlike a real cat). Apparently, it is meant to behave something like a therapy animal, and the company wanted to emulate the “healing qualities” of a cuddly animal sitting on your lap and wagging its tail.
“In development, we stuck to the good feeling of weight. … In addition, we have studied the actual tail and developed mechanisms and programs to reproduce the movement,” the company said in a statement.
Qoobo comes in two colors, husky gray or French brown, and measures around a foot in diameter. And now, after much anticipation, the stuffed kitty butt is now available for pre-order on Kickstarter. Despite launching less than a week ago, the Qoobo has already raised nearly the entirety of its $44,000 goal, a real testament to the success of weirdness. If you’re interested in checking out one of these allegedly therapeutic robotic tails, you can pre-order a Qoobo yourself for the early bird price of $89. Delivery is expected for September 2018, though, so you’ll still have to wait awhile to cuddle up to this non-cat.
Update: Qoobo is now available on Kickstarter.
