These Cuddly Robot Animals Nibble Lovingly at Your Fingers

If you own a pet there’s a good chance you’ve experienced some form of pleasant finger nibbling. It’s a bit odd to admit, but we mustn’t lie to ourselves! Now, if you’d like to experience the same peculiar sensation without all of the slobber and frequent hand washing, the Japanese company Yukai Engineering has you covered. Meet Amagami Ham Ham: the robot animal that loves to nibble on your digits.

Design Taxi picked up on Amagami Ham Ham, which is a robotic stuffed animal of sorts that aims to duplicate the act of play biting. “I believe many people would like to enjoy the feeling of pet and baby play-bites over and over again,” Masahiro Shiomi, the director of the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International in Japan, says on Yukai Engineering’s website. Shiomi, who offers his expert opinion vouching for the adorable bots, adds that “[Amagami Ham Ham] will be a presence that fulfills such needs through various play-biting.”

Yukai plans on offering two versions of Amagami Ham Ham—as Digital Trends notes Amagami means “soft bite” in Japanese, and “Ham” also means “bite”—including a Shiba Inu dog and a cat. The dog, Kotaru, is light brown in coloration and does indeed look like a cuddly Shiba Inu. The cat, Yuzu, is brown, black, and white, and we’re guessing is a calico? Although that’s not official. Don’t chew our fingers off if we’re wrong.

As for functionality, Digital Trends says that the eight-inch-tall fluff-bots have 24 “different methods” of biting one’s fingers. These methods include “Tasting Ham, Holding Tight HAM, and Massaging HAM” amongst others. Apparently the Hams rely on “HAMgorithms”—that’s literally what they’re called—and the bots choose a nibble type at random.

Unfortunately, Yukai still needs to implement a successful crowdfunding campaign before it can bring these HAMs to market. Although Yukai, along with collaborator Liv Heart Corporation, has already been successful with Qooboo; a faceless, headless, limbless cushion with a wagging tail. (Excuse us while we go and cuddle our real pets out of sheer terror.)

Feature image: Yukai Engineering