World's 1st kindergarten-monitoring robot debuts

TOKYO —

UniFa Co Ltd has started to provide a service using the world’s first robot designed for monitoring a kindergarten.

The robot, “Meebo,” can take pictures and dance, among other functions. Though the monthly rental fee for the robot is ¥9,800, it can be practically used for free because of the business model of UniFa’s “Rukumi” service for providing pictures, said Yasuyuki Toki, president of UniFa.

The Rukumi, which can be pronounced as “look me,” is a service for kindergartens and nursery schools and for sorting out pictures, uploading them to websites for viewing and selling pictures in an automated way.

Currently, kindergartens and nursery schools do not have to pay for the service (initial cost, rental fee, etc). Wwhen pictures are purchased, UniFa pays a share of the profit to them.

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