The private museum of Takara Tomy, the Japanese toy company responsible for Transformers, Beyblade, and Zoids, is filled with playthings from Christmases past. In a lovingly curated room in the company's Tokyo headquarters, a miniature B-29 bomber, faintly flecked with rust, sits at the ready in a glass display case. A squad of Micronauts action figures seems to have warped in from the seventies. An R2-D2-esque Omnibot, the remote-controlled robot that I begged my parents to buy in 1985, looks ready to roll. In the near future, these toys are likely to be joined by a very different sort of gadget: a small, spherical moon rover named SORA-Q, which Takara Tomy designed for the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.

The pandemic affected people of all ages in different ways, however, there is a special concern for the elderly. Not being close to their families or friends made them lead a lonelier life. That is why the Takara Tomy company developed a doll with artificial intelligence to reduce the isolation of older adults. Christened Ami-Chan, the doll was designed as a little (robotic) granddaughter. It seems to be inspired by some Studio Ghibli character, with big eyes and a small smile.