Mykeepon and the introduction of Keepons

Quite Frankly the Keepon (also know as mykeepon) is the most awesome thing to hit the shops for a very, very long time.

Mykeepon and everything about Keepons robots

In short My Keep on is an interactive robotic toy for kids and big kids who love the cute yellow little fella!

Mykeep-on as we refer to the Keep on (we call the little fella ‘it’ as we’re unsure about ‘it’s gender) responds to pokes, pats, and tickles with a large variety of emotional movements and sounds.

It has two modes:

Touch Mode – where it will respond to your toches, pats, pokes and tickles or;
Dance mode – When Mykeepon hears music, clapping or stamping it can’t help itself but to begin dancing in synchronized rhythm with the sound

History of the Keepons

It’s interesting beacause MyKeep on actually didn’t start life as a toy robot. In fact it didn’t even start life as ‘MyKeepon’ Moreover it was an educational aid which was used to help Children – some with learning difficulties such as autism – to understand emotive actions and aid communication.

Described by the clever chappies and chapess’s at Wikipedia

“the Keepon is a small yellow robot designed to study social development by interacting with children. Keepon was developed by Hideki Kozima while at the National Institute of Information.

The Clever Bit of the Keepon

The Keepon is used to study the underlying mechanisms of social communication. Its simple appearance and behavior are intended to help children, even those with developmental disorders such as autism, to understand its attentive and emotive actions. The robot, usually under the control of a teleoperator, has interacted with children in schools and remedial centers for developmental disorders since 2003.

Keepon achieved popularity with the March 2007 YouTube release of a video in which the robot was depicted dancing to the song “I Turn My Camera On” by the band Spoon.

Keepon was subsequently featured in a WIRED Magazine-produced music video for Spoon’s “Don’t You Evah.

Keepon’s awards have included the following:

€10,000 Robots at Play the Best Interactive Demonstration Award at RO-MAN (Jeju, Korea, August 2007)
First Grand Challenge in Human-Robot Interaction at ICRA
Keepon appeared at WIRED NextFest in September 2007 and September 2008 in
Keepon was a special performer at the 2008 Webby Awards.

Buying the Keepon

The original Keepon is currently available for purchase at $30,000. Ouch!

Luckily in response to Keepon’s online popularity, a toy version, called the My Keepon, has been announced by the clever chappies at Wow! in conjunction with BeatBots. The toy robot aims to “capture the the essence of the Keepon character” including its reactivity to touch and ability to dance to music, whilst coming in at a fraction of the cost!

It will be available from the following shops and and part of its profits go to subsidising BeatBots which are research-grade robots for therapists and researchers.