AMAGAMI HAM HAM

AMAGAMI HAM HAM reproduces one very specific sensation: the gentle play-biting of a puppy, a kitten or a small child, a gesture that is pleasant to receive and that adults are obliged to discourage. Yukai Engineering's answer was to build a plush animal that does it on demand. A finger placed on the upper palate is detected by a sensor, and the lower jaw begins to work. The mechanism is called the HAMling system: sensor and jaw form a single module, with the jaw moulded from a soft flexing resin. Bite patterns come from what the company calls the Hamgorithm, which varies speed and pressure so that repeated sessions produce mumbling, reflexive and massaging sensations rather than one repeated motion. The approach is patent pending. Masahiro Shiomi of the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, quoted by the manufacturer, frames play-biting as wordless emotional communication expected to reduce stress. The robot deliberately has no voice and no sound function beyond faint motor noise, and it does not move otherwise. It weighs about 380 grams and runs on three AA batteries, which the manufacturer does not supply and which are expected to last around three months at roughly eight minutes of use a day; there is no charging function. Because the jaw module cannot be removed from the plush, it cannot be washed, only wiped down. The product grew out of an internal makerthon at Yukai in 2020 and reached the market on 27 July 2022 at 4,620 yen, after a crowdfunding campaign that closed at almost 23 times its target; the manufacturer expected its first shipment of 20,000 units to sell out. It is sold in animal variants that differ in size — the Yuzu calico cat measures 130 by 195 by 210 millimetres, the Kururi otter 120 by 180 by 160 — with the Marron bear added in June 2024. The global store price is USD 72.

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