Concept

While we are communicating with more people more frequently through social media, we are somehow losing touch with people who matter the most to us. Many busy professionals wish to stay in close contact with their loved ones throughout the day. Hearing their children’s voice and finding out how their days are going can mean so much to parents. We created BOCCO to make their wishes come true. BOCCO is a modern-day “Zashiki-warashi,” or the guardian spirit for your family. It lives in your house, watches over your family and keeps you and your family connected.

The Origin of the Name

BOCCO comes from “bokko,” a northern Japanese dialect word meaning a child. It is our hope that BOCCO will bring happiness to the families that it serves just like “Zashiki warashi,” a folklore spirit from this region.

Design

We wanted BOCCO to look adorable and easy to handle so children would feel comfortable using it everyday. In addition to the size and shape of the robot, we made efforts around BOCCO’s body language by studying the way our staff engineer’s cat cocks its head and looks up. BOCCO only has three control buttons (two for recording and playing messages and the other for volume control) and is easy-to-use for everyone, including seniors. We chose simple colors to help make BOCCO blend in with any home interiors.