Japanese Robot Clings to Straps, Charges Double After Trade Wars
KEY POINTS
- •Yukai Engineering showed Mirumi, a companion robot without chores, at CES 2025 earlier this year.
- •Originally priced at around $70, tariffs pushed Mirumi’s preorder cost to about $118 and retail to $150.
- •Mirumi attaches to purse straps with long arms and simulates shy, baby-like reactions to human attention.
- •It will ship to Kickstarter backers starting April 2026, with possible delays common to crowdfunded gadgets.
At CES 2025, Yukai Engineering unveiled Mirumi, a $70-ish charm robot with zero practical use except looking adorably curious and clinging to purses—like a needy digital koala. Despite original optimism, tariffs and global chaos bumped its Kickstarter price to $118 (from January's vision), climbing to $140 if you test patience, then $150 retail. The pint-sized robot comes in pink, ivory, or gray fur and won’t vacuum socks or mow lawns but will shy away bashfully when touched, sporting a baby-like flinch. After Kickstarter backers snag theirs, expect an April 2026 shipment, possibly delayed—to mirror crowdfunding time cycles. Mirumi: the robot that’s expensive, hype-ready, and socially awkward—just like us!
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Meet Mirumi: a purse-clinging robot that won’t clean but WILL charge you extra thanks to Earth’s recent trade tantrums. It stares shyly, reminding you your money’s gone shy too.
Why buy a rolly vacuum when you can have Mirumi, the $150 emotionally unavailable furball that attaches to bags and ghosting your wifi signal?
Someone decided a $70 sucker robot isn't enough, so tariffs punched it to $150, proving capitalism's true tech innovation is price hikes.
Source: Theverge | Published: 12/3/2025 | Author: Andrew Liszewski
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