Unlike the Wakamaru, domestic robots such as the Roomba and The Litter Robot remain popular amongst consumers because of their affordability and functionality of household chores. Research Astrid M. Rosenthal-von der Pütten of University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany conducted research on how characteristics of robots determine responses from humans through an online web poll. The Wakamaru was used in this research project in a cluster of robots to determine four factors: threatening, likability, submissiveness, and unfamiliarity. From the web online poll, the results concluded that Wakamaru and other robots such as the Dynamoid, Icat, Asoy, Riman, and Snackbot were non-threatening, submissive, not human and mechanical but also unfamiliar and less likable. The research says that this is may be due to their colorful but unusual shape. References External links communication robot wakamaru on mhi-global.com 2000s robots Humanoid robots Mitsubishi Heavy Industries products Domestic robots