Wakamaru

What it's for

In January 2005, a yellow, meter-tall robot appeared on the market as a household companion and receptionist at once. Wakamaru, the creation of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, moved on a single-wheel base at a mere 0.28 m/s, so nobody expected races: its job was conversation and recognizing people.

The robot recognized the faces of up to eight people and understood about 10,000 Japanese words. That defined two scenarios. At home, it was meant to be a companion for the household that bought it for 14,300 to 15,000 USD. At a reception desk, it was meant to greet visitors. From 2008, when retail sales ended, it was offered only for daily rental as a receptionist, at around 1,000 USD per day. Photographs from 2014 show individual units reassigned to work at a waste-processing facility at a Japanese university.

What does this mean today? Wakamaru is no use for any practical application: you cannot buy it, install it or send it in for service. Its value is as a reference point: it shows what the first wave of service robots looked like before cheap 3D sensors, language models and high-capacity batteries arrived (runtime was only 2 hours). If you want to see how this idea looks in 2026, turn to service robots or humanoid robots and the article “How Does a Humanoid Robot Work”. For present-day hotel applications, see hotels.

Who it's for

Makes sense for: historians of technology, journalists, lecturers and students who want to understand what the first attempts to bring humanoid robots into homes and businesses looked like. Exhibit designers and museums, though you cannot buy a unit in a shop. Market analysts looking for a classic case of a product that never found a business model.

Less suited to: anyone planning a purchase. The robot was withdrawn from sale in 2008, has no Polish distributor and has no successor. Companies looking for a receptionist today will be better served by the modern robots among the alternatives. Hobbyists seeking a learning platform: none of the sources we know of mention an open SDK.

Deployments

The robot was not offered in the country and has no Polish distributor.

Worldwide: according to the sources, Wakamaru worked as a receptionist on daily rental from 2008, and photographs from 2014 show individual units at a waste-processing facility at a Japanese university. That is all we can confirm; we have no data on the number of units sold.

Modern service robots work in Polish hotels and restaurants, as described in “Service Robots in Restaurants and Hotels”. They are the practical successors to the idea Wakamaru started.

If the same idea appeals to you, a robot as companion and receptionist, there are several real options today. The closest in spirit is the Pepper from Aldebaran: a wheeled reception robot (120 cm, 28 kg), built in some 27,000 units, but also discontinued, in 2024.

The PAL Robotics ARI from PAL Robotics is actively sold: a social service robot for reception, 165 cm tall, speaking more than 20 languages, price on request. If you need something cheaper and simpler, look at the temi V3: from 4,499 USD (about 17,400 PLN (≈ EUR 3,980)), with a robot-as-a-service (RaaS) option from 125 USD a month, although availability in Poland is not confirmed. A historical counterpart from a similar era, but only a prototype, is the EMIEW 2 (2007), which never went on sale.

Wakamaru reached the market in January 2005, and retail sales ended in 2008. The robot never got a successor: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the conglomerate founded in 1884 and headquartered in Tokyo, never released a second generation, which sets it apart from today's companies building whole robot families. The model remains the only humanoid product from MHI in our catalog. Market context: “Humanoid Robot Market Forecasts”.