Kokonatchi Is Your Japanese USB Twitter Peanut [Video]

We're not quite sure what it is that makes tech designers think that everyone wants a gelatinous flashing blob sat on their desk, changing color and shivering to communicate Twitter updates, but they keep cropping up every so often.  Students at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University are the latest to attempt it, with their peanut-shaped Kokonatchi robot changing color depending on the tone and mood of your incoming Twitter messages and even vibrating if "frightened".Video demo after the cut

It's not just a one-way thing, either; you can apparently reply to a tweet by massaging the robot, though we're not entirely sure a darn good fondling would be the most appropriate way to answer every question.  An internal speaker can play back up to twenty words (or up to 1,000 on a microSD card) while power is via USB.

The students are hoping to commercially release Kokonatchi in collaboration with robotics manufacturer Yukai Engineerng; they're estimating the first batch will be around $45 each.

[via Plastic Pals]