robotindex Yukai Engineering BOCCO emo
A round, screenless family-messaging robot from Tokyo's Yukai Engineering — the successor to the company's original 2015 BOCCO — with LED-animated eyes, a radar-based (not camera-based) presence sensor, and a companion app for voice, text, and photo messages between family members. Increasingly positioned for elder check-ins as well as latchkey-kid communication.
bocco.me — BOCCO emo →
Image: Yukai Engineering (official)
Specs
Dimensions
95 × 95 × 141 mm400 g
Connectivity
Wi-Fi 2.4GHz + Bluetoothseparate LTE model available, no home Wi-Fi needed
Camera
Noneconfirmed absent; uses a radar sensor instead
Display
No screenLED-animated eyes, cheek color, antenna/body motion
AI
Generative-AI conversationadded Aug 2026 via a paid Premium Plan; not present at 2021 launch
Presence sensing
Acconeer A1 radar+ illuminance, vibration, motion sensors
Accessories
Temp/humidity sensordoor/entry sensor (sold separately)
Power
Wired AC adapter~6.8W; not battery-powered
Subscription
Optional¥1,700/mo (~$11–12) Premium Plan (added Aug 2026) unlocks generative-AI conversation, per-person voice recognition/memory, and in-app chat; base messaging/reminder features work without it
Reference Price
¥52,800 tax-included on Yukai Engineering's own Japanese store for the Wi-Fi model, up from its March 2021 Japan launch price of ¥44,000 tax-included. It was listed out of stock there at the time of this research, and no confirmed US or international retail price or channel was found — this appears to be a primarily Japan-market product.
Insights
BOCCO emo won the iF Design Award 2021, an independently verifiable industry design recognition rather than a marketing claim. A nonprofit news outlet also confirms Shibuya City subsidized it as one of several elder-watch technologies for residents. Still sold as of this writing, but no product news (feature updates, new hardware revisions, or press coverage) has surfaced since 2025 — worth rechecking periodically rather than treating this page as fully current.
Firmware & Community
YUKAI/emo-platform-api-python
Yukai Engineering's own official Python SDK for the BOCCO emo Platform API, letting developers read sensor data and control LED/movement over a documented, token-based REST/webhook interface.
Verified against Yukai Engineering's own official press releases and newsroom (ux-xu.com, including the March 2021 Japan-launch announcement and the January 2019 CES announcement), the official product site (bocco.me) and online store, Acconeer's own case study on the radar sensor used in BOCCO emo, a Japanese babytech trade outlet's coverage of the August 2026 generative-AI feature launch, and a nonprofit news outlet's reporting on Shibuya City's senior watch-over technology subsidy program. Dimensions are given slightly differently across CES-era materials (90×90×150mm) versus the current official store listing (95×95×141mm); the more recent official figure is used here. No hands-on review from a major English-language tech outlet was found, so claims about usability, English-language support, or overall reception that would normally rest on such a review are not made. The Shibuya City elder-watch program's reporting refers generically to "Bocco" without confirming whether that means the original 2015 device or BOCCO emo specifically. The app's "no data collected" privacy claim is a self-reported App Store label, not an independently audited fact.