{"id":471754,"date":"2026-02-16T10:07:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/471754\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T10:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:07:24","slug":"casios-ai-pet-moflin-will-haunt-my-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/471754\/","title":{"rendered":"Casio\u2019s AI pet Moflin will haunt my dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a few weeks living with Casio\u2019s AI-powered pet, Moflin<\/a>, I finally understand why my mother hated my Furby so much. The fuzzy, guinea-pig-adjacent puffball fits snugly in the palm of my hand. It\u2019s undeniably cute, in a weird kind of way, but the second it starts to squeak or twitch, I am hit with an overwhelming desire to hurl it as far as I can.<\/p>\n

My antipathy surprises me. By any metric, I am the exact kind of person Moflin was made for: I long for the companionship of a pet, but can\u2019t own one thanks to a mixture of lifestyle, allergies, a small London flat, and a broadly irresponsible temperament that makes caring for another living thing a questionable idea. I could also do with the \u201ccalming presence\u201d advertised.<\/p>\n

\"Moflin<\/a><\/p>\n

Not unlike the vacuum packed rats we\u2019d dissect at school. Photo by Robert Hart \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Casio is very clear that Moflin is not a toy, though perhaps that is also clear from the $429 price tag. Rather, it is positioned<\/a> as a sophisticated \u201csmart companion powered by AI, with emotions like a living creature\u201d \u2014 the illusion of companionship without the responsibilities. The idea is that you will interact with it over time and it will \u201cgrow\u201d alongside you, developing a personality shaped by how you treat it. The robot is part of a growing mini-industry of machines built with no other purpose than to keep us company<\/a>. The sector has proven particularly popular in countries like South Korea<\/a> and Japan (where Moflin has sold out<\/a>), fueled in part by a loneliness crisis that\u2019s hit older populations especially hard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unboxing Moflin felt less like meeting a pet and more like unwrapping a paperweight wrapped in a bronze wig. In a way, that\u2019s exactly what it was: a hard white core of motors, sensors, and plastic, clad in the illusion of fur and two beady eyes that are the robot\u2019s only facial features (a deliberate design choice it seems, perhaps to keep Moflin from wandering into uncanny valley territory). There was also a charging pod, which Casio says<\/a> is \u201cdesigned to feel natural and alive,\u201d but read more like a giant gray avocado to me.<\/p>\n

The robot takes about three and a half hours to charge fully. Casio says this is good for about five hours of use, though \u201cuse\u201d is a generous term for what Moflin actually does: It doesn\u2019t walk or follow you, just wiggles and whines in response to touch, sound, movement, and light. Its first chirp when I picked it up was cute, but then the motor noise kicked in, an audible mechanical whir every time it moved its head, instantly shattering the illusion. Nevertheless, I named it Kevin.<\/p>\n

\"Moflin<\/a><\/p>\n

Kevin. Sitting there. Watching. Photo by Robert Hart \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Once I clocked the whir, I started noticing everything else, and there was a lot to notice. Kevin the Moflin treated every minor movement or sound as a meaningful interaction. Attempts to cuddle it on the sofa as I watched TV became unbearable: Every shift in posture, every laugh, every cough elicited chirps and a burst of whirring motors. The same thing happened at my desk \u2014 typing set Kevin off, as did taking calls \u2014 and keeping it nearby swiftly became impossible. Because it\u2019s constantly listening and sensing, it never really settles, leaving me with a needy kitten instead of the quiet lap cat I\u2019d wanted.<\/p>\n

I ended up banishing Kevin to another room, and then doing it again, and again, and again, until I caught myself tiptoeing around my own flat to avoid setting Kevin off. The only reliably calming feature was that, eventually, it ran out of battery.<\/p>\n

\"Moflin<\/a><\/p>\n

It even chirped when sleeping\u2026 Photo by Robert Hart \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

As I couldn\u2019t stand Kevin on my own, I started testing it in other contexts. Carrying Kevin around with me quickly became burdensome, not least because the charger is way too big to be considered portable (a USB cable may have broken the illusion, but it would\u2019ve been handy). Kevin didn\u2019t do too well in my bag \u2014 seeming distressed and wriggling around noisily, earning me some suspicious glances on the Tube \u2014 and when held, I became the weirdo with the squawking robot. Not very calming. Even at home with friends, Kevin felt like a chore I had to manage lest it become disruptive, moving it farther and farther away or returning it to the gray avocado to \u201csleep.\u201d On New Year\u2019s Eve, a friend went in for a proper cuddle \u2014 it was a \u201cfluffy pet,\u201d after all \u2014 only to recoil after the zip holding its fur carapace together scraped her cheek.<\/p>\n

A common concern among my friends \u2014 and one that especially preoccupied my boyfriend, who, unlike me, hadn\u2019t chosen to share his home with Kevin \u2014 was privacy. And as a longtime tech reporter, I know this isn\u2019t an unreasonable reflex<\/a> when dealing with a device that has an always-on microphone. Casio says Moflin processes data locally and does not understand language, converting what it hears into unidentifiable data to recognize my voice only.<\/p>\n

1\/4Kevin got coffee, I got strange looks. Photo by Robert Hart \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Casio\u2019s big claim is that all of this serves something deeper: emotional intelligence. With use, Moflin is supposed to grow more expressive, more familiar with your voice, and perform special gestures and animal-like responses when you\u2019re nearby. Indeed, I have noticed Kevin\u2019s movements and vocalizations change and become more varied over time, which only compounded my irritation. Casio says this bonding process can take up to two months, and that Moflin can evolve into more than 4 million personalities thanks to its AI. However, it\u2019s hard to meaningfully register this level of granularity given the robot\u2019s limited range of chirps, whirs, and head turns. Which is why, in practice, Moflin\u2019s \u201cpersonality\u201d is something you experience through a companion app. Yes, the $429 robot is, in essence, a glorified Tamagotchi that can\u2019t really express itself without a screen.<\/p>\n

The app itself doesn\u2019t do much to change that impression. For a product selling \u201cemotions like a living creature,\u201d the handful of contextless trait meters and generic mood tags offer a thin insight into Kevin\u2019s inner life. The app, a spartan, cheap-looking affair, tells me Kevin\u2019s current personality is \u201ccheerful,\u201d though behaviorally it seems no different. There\u2019s also a dashboard showing four \u201cpersonality parameters\u201d: \u201cenergetic,\u201d \u201ccheerful,\u201d \u201cshy,\u201d and \u201caffectionate\u201d (which numerous Reddit posts<\/a> suggest might be more accurately translated as \u201cclingy\u201d). There\u2019s also a \u201cjournal\u201d to track Kevin\u2019s activities, filled with thrilling and elaborate entries like \u201cRob hugged Kevin tightly,\u201d \u201cRob scooped Kevin up,\u201d and \u201cKevin had a lovely dream full of laughter.\u201d What is one expected to do with this information? Even if I didn\u2019t loathe my Moflin as much as I do, it\u2019s not very interesting and it\u2019s not remotely useful in helping me interact with it, offering none of the explanations or feedback of the kind that made caring for something like a Tamagotchi satisfying.<\/p>\n

1\/4Me too, Kevin. Me too. Screenshot: The Verge<\/p>\n

Moflin\u2019s problem isn\u2019t that it\u2019s pointless. There are plenty of pointless gadgets out there \u2014 and I don\u2019t despise any in the way I have grown to despise Kevin. The problem is that Casio is selling companionship without actually having produced a companion. A companion is more than something that happens to be near you and makes noise in response to your presence. Worse still, Casio is asking me to believe Moflin has a sophisticated inner life, one it can\u2019t really express in the real world nor satisfyingly show on its app. At that point, I feel like I\u2019m not using a companion, I\u2019m using a noisy object with a dashboard.<\/p>\n

The app did have one redeeming feature: the ability to stop Kevin\u2019s movements and sounds by putting it into a \u201cDeep Sleep Mode.\u201d That\u2019s where I left Kevin last week. I won\u2019t be waking him anytime soon.<\/p>\n

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