It sounds unbelievable, but in fact, legendary video game console maker Sega also makes toys under its Sega Toys division. One of them, a cake robot designed to be a pet for Japanese homes in collaboration with Elephant Robotics, it was sold as an advanced product designed so that the Japanese could have a pet in buildings where this is prohibited, but they had to back down and withdraw the product from the market since these cats emitted a certain burnt smell.
Japanese society is quite curious in many ways, and one of them is that in some residential complexes – especially rental ones – it is forbidden to have pets. This fact has caused a certain boom in products of this nature, that of robotic animals which provide “company” but without the disadvantages of flesh and blood animals. But of course, mechanical components also have other types of disadvantages…
Sega and its robot cat on fire
Named KIMIT Ragdoll, this robotic cat was launched by Sega in Japan on February 29 of this year 2024 at a price of 33,000 yen (around 200 dollars) as a replacement for real pets (said by themselves). Their propaganda showed users hugging and stroking these machines, and even talking to them while their blue eyes glowed and meowed. Fur, they say, has a realistic feel (and not that plasticky feel you’re probably familiar with from many rugs and pillows), but it’s precisely the cause of the problem.
And no matter how much you want to make a robot that looks like an animal, it’s still a robot and that means it has electronic and mechanical components inside, components that heat up with use and that , from what it seems, in this case, they burn the fur of the KIMIT Ragdoll and give off a rather unpleasant smell of burnt plastic.
So far, no serious accidents have been reported (no cat has literally caught fire), but Sega has announced an immediate recall of all models (it was sold in two versions, one completely white and one ‘other with brown spots). In fact, Sega advises users who purchase one of these cats to turn it off immediately to avoid problems and to immediately manage their warranty rights to obtain a refund of the money invested.
What’s going on with Sega?
There is no doubt that the Japanese company is not going through its best moment, and we say this not only because the launch of this robot chat went badly, but because it almost hurts to see how a leading company which in its time It competed with some industry giants like Nintendo or Sony to engage in these directions at the moment.
And even if the company has never stopped being active and has made a few timid launches, the company’s last major launch dates back to 1998-1999 with the Dreamcast, a console which directly competed with the first Xbox, the GameCube from Nintendo and even the first PlayStation. However, this does not mean that it was overly successful as it ceased to be sold in 2001, just three years after its initial launch.
Since then, yes, we have seen a few things here and there, like the Game Gear Micro that they put in stores in October 2020, but it has undoubtedly remained quite far from the success it initially had, leaving the Microsoft triumvirate, Sony and Nintendo hold all the power. I hope things change and they focus on doing what they’re good at, not being robot cats who burn out.
