Did you know that the robot vacuum cleaner “Rumba” is sold under the supervision of iRobot Japan? I didn’t know about it until it was presented as a novelty to the participants of the “Roomba s9 +” product launch held in February. The perfection of the gashapon was so wonderful that we will deliver light impressions.
▲ Commercially available products are contained in round capsules of gashapon, but in novelties they were beautifully stored in a cosmetic box. The price is 300 yen (including tax) for each release in November 2019.
Four types are available: the first “Roomba Original” in 2002, the “Roomba Discovery” in 2004, the “Roomba 537J” in 2007, and the “Roomba 980” in 2015.
▲ The latest “s9 +” is not a gashapon, but it was a nice USB product with a press kit.
▲ The size is 50 mm in diameter equivalent to 1/7 scale. Roomba that fits in the palm of your hand is cute!
A gashapon blog by a Bandai planner talks about product planning and development secrets. He witnessed that Rumba 980, purchased by Mr. Matsunaga, who was in charge of planning, was loved by his family, and he started product development with the idea of ”I want a miniature?”
▲ The molds are prepared for each of the four machines, and the texture, paint, and gloss are adjusted based on the actual machine. By the way, what I received as a novelty is the limited type of iRobot, whose button is painted green and turned on.
▲ The bottom looks like this. Gimmicks such as brushes are also deformed and reproduced. Of course, details differ for each model.
It is also possible to run with a pullback spring. By allowing play without fixing the front wheels, it reproduces Rumba’s random running. The more I touched Rumba’s gashapon, the more I was concerned with detail and reproducibility of behavior.
According to the Gashapon blog, Mr. Matsunaga also wants to commercialize an eye robot floor cleaning robot “Brava” and a mine removal robot “Ariel” in addition to the four models. I’m looking forward to the second installment.
