Coming for Christmas, a robot that cares, dances, and gestures.

One toy store is betting big on a robot toy for which it has exclusive rights this year. Toys “R” Us has store displays and plans TV promotions. “My Keepon” doesn’t look much like a robot. At 10 inches high, it looks more like two tennis balls or a baby owl that is a striking bright yellow. Its story begins seven years ago at Miyagi University in Japan. The design had autistic children in mind. Because they don’t deal well with face-to-face interactions, communication with Keepon was reduced to simple gestures. A child pats the robot on the head, and it responds with a playful Bob. The child talks to the robot, and it turns to face him and nods.

Keepon was originally packed with $30,000 worth of machinery, sensors and computer chips. Its name is a combination of the two Japanese words for yellow and bounce. In clinics, autistic kids made more eye contact with the robot than with people. And they used touching and nurturing gestures they didn’t show with people.
Last year, the WOW! Stuff Toy Company took over and wrote a lot of new software to govern My Keepon’s interactions. Now, it has two modes: touch and dance. In touch mode, it responds to a range of turning, wiggling or sneezing gestures. Pat it on the head six times, and it will pop up and down six times while making R2-D2-like beeps and peeps. In dance mode, a microphone in its nose listens to a song, even hummed or whistled, and its fuzzy form will dance to the beat. Play the same song again and it will do a different dance, still in rhythm and tempo. It does many moves. Some say when you see it rocking out, you can’t help but love it as it spins its torso and thumps its head. If left alone, Keepon will remember sequences of touches. It tweaks its behavior on this history, also letting out an occasional cry for attention.

The toy will sell for less than $50. Developers hope proceeds from sales will cover costs of new units so new autism research can be conducted, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.