MyKeepon

November 25, 2011 in review

keepon-story

A few weeks ago I won a twitter competition for a MyKeepon here is the official story:

The My Keepon Story

My Keepon is based on its cousin Keepon® Pro, a research robot created by two scientists.
Dr. Hideki Kozima (Sendai, Japan) and Dr. Marek Michalowski (San Francisco, U.S.), of BeatBots have been using Keepon Pro in playrooms to study social development and autism. Keepon’s simple appearance and dynamic behaviour have been embraced by children, parents, and practitioners alike. These same qualities have made Keepon resonate with a general audience through Internet exposure and public engagements.
When the pair of roboticists made Keepon dance on YouTube for the very first time, it instantly became an Internet phenomenon, with millions of people watching. To date, the video of Keepon dancing to indie rock band Spoon’s “I Turn My Camera On” has had nearly 2.7 million views online.
“To answer the thousands of fans who have asked for their very own Keepon, we have teamed up with toy innovators Wow! Stuff to create My Keepon, a lifelike robotic toy packed with personality, who can live in anyone’s home,” says Dr. Michalowski.
My Keepon will be available throughout the US, UK and Europe from October 2011. Appropriate for children ages 6 and up, My Keepon is also expected to be a hit with 16, 66, and 106-year-olds.
A portion of every My Keepon purchase will be used to expand the Keepon Pro family of research robots, which will be distributed to researchers and practitioners investigating the use of robots in autism therapy.
It arrived on Wednesday & came with me when we went out last night  & after playing with it & making it dance & copy us (i’m sure the lads were having more fun than they should’ve been!) we put him to bed.
A friend asked if I ever wanted to pass him on then he’d be interested for his wife’s special school & also thought his nephew would like it. He told us he was autistic, well that made my mind up, it was an easy decision to make, it was his.
I was lucky to win this but if I could help a child’s development then I was more than happy to give it to him.
This is the 1st message I have had back from my friends ……… it brought a tear to my eye.

  Hi Ness 

Just wanted to say thanks so much for

keepon or Bob as we have named him as it is

easier. Please see below for review of first

meeting with Joe 



Joe is 4 and a half years old with a diagnosis

of autism. He finds eye contact a challenge

and dislikes new or different things. As soon

as we took the keepon out of the box (we

have named him Bob!) Joe was instantly

attracted to it and although doing a jigsaw

kept watching to see what Bob did next. He 

made no attempt to push it away or throw it

which was lovely to watch and nearly had his 

mum in tears!

Joe was really keen to touch Bob and was 

fascinated when this caused

movement that he could respond to. When

Joe started to watch his favourite programme

he moved Bob in front of the TV so he could

watch both. This may sound like small things 

but for Joe they are great achievements -

will keep you posted on how the next few 

days/weeks go!


Thanks again 

I will keep you up to date with how Joe get’s on with “Bob” 

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Written by: Ness Gorton on November 25, 2011.

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