明日から9月30日まで上海で開催される World Design Cities Conference（WDCC）2026 に、Smart Dollを展示します。 WDCCは、UNESCOと上海市人民政府が共同主催する国際的なデザインイベントです。 #smartdoll

You can now play Doom on a Smart Doll :-) We are using the ESP32-S3-based ATOM S3R by @M5Stack, which slots into a dedicated dock that snaps magnetically into the Cyber Shell Cortex bust. Echo Base for sound and Joystick2 for controls, also by M5Stack, plug into the ATOM and our gaming environment is complete. Under the hood, we’re running the doomgeneric engine with doom1.wad, the original 1993 shareware release. Doom’s renderer is hardwired to 320x200px, so rather than mess with that, we render at its native resolution into an internal buffer, then scale it down to the ATOM S3R’s actual 128x128px display using nearest-neighbor scaling. A few tweaks were needed for the Smart Doll build. Since the compatible M5Stack Joystick2 only has one button, it does double duty as both fire and action. Leave the controls untouched for 30 seconds and the game drops into demo mode. Pressing the screen mutes and unmutes the sound. All in, it’s doom1.wad at around 4.2MB plus roughly 0.9MB of compiled code, for about 5.1MB total. That 901KB covers the doomgeneric engine, our ATOM S3R glue code for the joystick, speaker, controls, game flow and display, plus the M5Stack libraries needed to make everything work. When Cortex is ready for primetime, we’ll release this version on our GitHub for you to flash, complete with the files and tutorials you need to get up and running with as little friction as possible. If you are attending Maker Faire Bay Area September 25, 26 or 27, drop by our booth and you can play Doom on a Smart Doll for yourself. Our team will also be there to explain how the whole setup works :-) Getting Doom to run on a Smart Doll has been a great learning experience and has already led us down a few other rabbit holes, including retro game emulators, smart home control and perhaps even a dedicated Smartie Operating System. Now for the next challenge. Getting this setup to run Crysis :-) #smartdoll #bjd #m5stack

Smart Doll Cortex can now run Windows XP! (Kinda) The ESP32-S3-based ATOM S3R by M5Stack is tiny enough, once removed from its case, to fit inside the upper bust of Smart Doll Cortex. We are preparing a dedicated ATOM S3R Bust together with a magnetic bracket that holds the ATOM unit in place. The STL files for both will be released for free. Windows XP is just for fun, but the ATOM S3R itself can be programmed in C++ using the Arduino IDE to do considerably more useful things. You could give your Smart Doll a voice through ChatGPT or Xiaozhi AI, attach sensors such as cameras and environmental detectors, or experiment with practical applications such as fall detection and sending alerts when an elderly person at home may need assistance. Or if you are on team no-AI, you could simply have the ATOM loop a video of Never Gonna Give You Up. What would you program your Smart Doll to do? #smartdoll #bjd

The Sofubi Wigs are ready for prime time. But as usual, I won’t be telling you why I think they are the bee’s knees. Instead, I’m going to tell you all the reasons why you may want to sit this one out, or perhaps wait to hear from the horse’s mouth when other customers get their hands on them before deciding. After all, in this day and age, how can anybody trust what a maker says about their own product? :-) Save money by reading all the reasons not to buy in the Knowledge Base :-) shop.smartdoll.jp/products/i… #smartdoll

The Figurobot team from Shanghai visited Smart Doll Land to explore the possibilities of their 60cm robot platform. Check out their post to see some of it in action. Just to clarify, any robotics we end up developing will be entirely optional—not something that will be forced on anyone. #smartdoll

Blankety Blank Clickety Click Snappety Snap #smartdoll #bjd

Some of you may know that Smart Doll began life as an April Fools' joke back in 2013. I announced an AI-powered, Terminator-style robot with built-in flamethrowers. The joke unexpectedly went viral, the name stuck, and ever since then I've been asked the same question every year: "So... when is Smart Doll actually going to move and shoot flames?" Back then I did invest in a few robotic prototypes, but each one cost around 2 million yen. Had we continued down that path, I'm fairly certain we wouldn't still be in business today. Robotics has never been an area where we had a strong foundation. What we do understand is designing products that represent folks the dollsphere has traditionally overlooked — darker skin tones, skin characteristics, pear-shaped bodies, limb differences — and that's where we've put our time and money for the past 13 years. That said, I've never stopped keeping an eye on developments in robotics. Over the years I've met companies and studios that have spent decades working in robotics and animatronics, looking for technology that might eventually make the original Smart Doll vision practical — and I've seen first hand how far it's come. The photo here is one of those early prototypes, taken over ten years ago — about as far as 2 million yen would get you at the time. The technical side is no longer the hard part. Which changes the question. For over a decade it's been "how do we make Smart Doll move?" Now it's "if Smart Doll could move, what should they actually do?" That's the much harder one. We don't want to build something that's fascinating for five minutes and then spends the rest of its life standing in a corner like a theme park animatronic. Movement on its own isn't a feature. It needs a purpose. So I'd like to know: is movement even important to you? And if it is — what would you want your Smart Doll to actually do that would make them genuinely useful rather than a novelty? Aside from shooting flames :-) #smartdoll #bjd #robotics #animatronics

Following on from yesterday’s robotics post, I wanted to share some photos taken at the HQ of Figurobot in Shanghai. They are one of several companies whose robotics platform we’re currently evaluating as we explore what the future of Smart Doll could look like. The reason I asked for your feedback yesterday was because we’ve reached an interesting point. Making Smart Doll move is no longer the biggest challenge. The harder question is what they should actually do to become genuinely useful rather than an animatronic attraction that’s fascinating for 5 minutes and then forgotten. After reading your replies across Instagram, Facebook and X, one theme stood out. It wasn’t really about robotics. It was about companionship. Many of you said you’d rather have a Smart Doll that could look at you, blink, nod, wave, remember your name, and hold a conversation than simply walk around. The recurring theme was that movement should support interaction and personality, not exist for its own sake. Many imagined a desktop companion that greets you when you get home, keeps you company while you work, answers simple questions, plays music, or simply feels present. Just as many said they weren’t interested in robotics at all. For them, Smart Doll is already a companion through photography, sewing, collecting, drawing and storytelling. If electronics ever become part of Smart Doll, they should remain optional. The maker community also had some great ideas. Rather than a finished robot, many suggested an open platform with room for batteries, Raspberry Pi and similar boards, APIs and tutorials so makers, students and engineers could build their own ideas. The biggest concerns were cost, repairability, weight, battery life, privacy, reliability, and preserving the simplicity that makes Smart Doll enjoyable today. Yesterday I asked what Smart Doll should do if they could move. I think many of you answered a different question entirely: “How should Smart Doll make me feel?” That’s an even more interesting problem to solve. Thanks again for your thoughts. :-) #smartdoll

How about a different type of retro arcade cabinet? A closer video peek on the site. shop.smartdoll.jp/pages/inst… #smartdoll

We thought it’d be fun to have one of our Smart Dolls cosplay as Lucy to celebrate and show support for the new season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners :-) How many of you watched season1? It was actually the anime that got me into playing the game - completed on street kid, nomad and now I'm in the middle of corpo :-) Video on the site. shop.smartdoll.jp/pages/inst… #smartdoll #cyberpunkedgerunners #cyberpunk #Cortex2

Don’t mind me - I’m just watching some Kpop Demon Hunters on my Telletub…I mean Smart Doll. #smartdoll #KPOPDEMONHUNTERS

The Trifold Arm Projectile Launch System for Cortex 2. STL data will be distributed for free—feel free to print, mod, and even sell it if you wish :-) #smartdoll

We recently conducted a wind resistance test to compare how well the sofubi (vinyl) and Cortex versions of Smart Doll can remain standing under wind pressure. The sofubi Smart Doll toppled immediately when exposed to 9 meters per second (m/s) of wind, while the Cortex Smart Doll stayed upright—even at 20 m/s, the maximum output of our blower. For context, 20 m/s (about 72 km/h or 45 mph) approaches gale-force wind on the Beaufort scale. This wasn’t a full-scale engineering wind tunnel test—but with a consistent setup using a blower and anemometer, we were able to observe and verify Cortex’s significantly improved standing stability under high wind pressure. Part of this stability comes down to structure. Sofubi parts are designed to flex and wrap around the internal frame, but Cortex shell components are screwed directly into place. This creates a more rigid chassis that resists deformation and distributes force more evenly through the body. The material also plays a key role. Cortex shells are made from ABS—a rigid, high-impact plastic known for its dimensional stability. Compared to vinyl, ABS doesn’t flex under pressure as easily, which helps reduce wobble and absorb external forces like wind without compromising posture. We also designed the soles of the Cortex feet to be flatter and broader. A wider contact area increases static friction with the surface and helps disperse force more evenly—both factors that contribute to better balance when standing unaided. While the Cortex design includes vent-like openings, these are aesthetic features and do not function as aerodynamic vents. For vents to significantly reduce wind resistance or improve stability, they would need to be strategically placed and engineered to channel airflow through the body in a way that reduces pressure buildup. #smartdoll

I love Cyberpunk 2077 so I thought we would indulge in some V cosplay - and we just happen to have the body type to match - Cyber Shell Cortex :-) More photos on the site shop.smartdoll.jp/pages/inst… #smartdoll #cyberpunk #Cyberpunk2077

The interior of the Cortex shell features a sculpted, cyborg-style surface—originally designed as an internal detail, not something visible once assembled. But the look had too much potential to stay hidden. So we expanded on the idea and developed it into a series of exposed shell parts that resemble a mechanical endoskeleton—what we’re calling the Cyborg Chassis. I’ve posted a video in my Stories if you’d like to see how it looks with lights pulsing underneath ;-) These components interlock with Cyber Shell Cortex shell parts and represent a “pre-shell” state: a synthetic body before the outer skin is applied. It’s part of our ongoing effort to turn functional design into storytelling—and to give Smart Doll even more visual range. While still in the prototyping phase, many of these parts will eventually be available as free downloads for you to modify and print for your Cyber Shell Cortex girls. We aim to release some of the data ahead of launch so creators can start experimenting—or prepping for sales—early. If you’re not yet a dab hand at 3D printing, now might be a good time to dive in. Or, if you’d prefer to ease into it, you can always pick up printed parts from talented 3D cyber creators like mikela_frost, the_baker3.6, or ardichan_smd (instagram handles). That said, we’d like to stay in business a little while longer—so we’re still figuring out how to support community access without giving away all our 3D data for free ;-) And because we’re still deep in the prototyping phase, not everything shown here is guaranteed to be released exactly as-is. Some designs may change, evolve, or be shelved altogether as we refine what’s practical to produce, share, or support in a way that keeps the business sustainable. #smartdoll More photos and a video on the site. shop.smartdoll.jp/pages/inst… #smartdoll

Just as Apple coined the term “MagSafe,” we think it’s time to name the magnetic bust attachment system in Cyber Shell Cortex. I’ve got a few ideas that start with “Magna…”—but I’ll wait to hear your ideas first ;-) Until now, changing the bust on a Smart Doll meant removing the head and arms. But with Cyber Shell Cortex, it’s as simple as a satisfying *ka-chunk* —that unmistakable magnetic snap that tells you it’s locked in place. This magnetic system makes bust swaps effortless, unlocking a range of creative possibilities—limited only by your imagination. We’re currently developing a variety of shell bust parts. Some will be available for purchase, while others will be released as free downloads you can modify, remix, or even sell—no licensing or fees required. Some community members asked whether the shell walls were made thinner to make room for electronics. The answer is no. In fact, parts of the shell are up to four times thicker than the previous generation. We’ve also run extensive force gauge tests on the assembled shell. For reference, the average grip strength of an adult male is about 45 kgf, and around 25 kgf for an adult female. Even accounting for brief spikes in force—like when removing limbs—the shell stays well within safe limits. And if you missed it: a recent test showed what used to be the weakest part of Cortex withstanding over 100 kgf (~220 lb) of compressive force—without deforming. To give creators even more freedom, we’ve developed a new optional spine that adds internal space for those who want to install electronics, larger batteries or snacks. #smartdoll

Meet Not My Problem — the calm boundary-setter who teaches that protecting your peace means knowing what’s yours to carry… and what’s not. Not My Problem is the voice of calm refusal in a world that’s quick to point fingers. She exists to empower those who are constantly made to feel responsible for other people’s mistakes, emotions, or failures. When someone tries to shift blame or guilt onto others to avoid dealing with their own mess, Not My Problem stands firm—unmoved and unbothered. She has learned that some people don’t want solutions—they want someone to carry the weight for them. They’ll twist a situation, rewrite the story, and suddenly, you’re the villain in a problem that never belonged to you in the first place. That’s when Not My Problem steps in—not to argue, not to fight, but to calmly hand that responsibility back to where it belongs. She teaches that it’s okay to walk away from drama that isn’t yours. That you don’t owe an explanation when someone tries to make you feel guilty for setting boundaries. She’s not cold—she simply refuses to be the emotional dumping ground for people who won’t take accountability. Not My Problem isn’t about avoiding responsibility—it’s about rejecting the ones that were never hers in the first place. She serves as a reminder that you are not obligated to carry other people’s burdens, especially when they come wrapped in blame and projection. Her power lies in the pause, the silence, the turning away—and in doing so, she teaches others to protect their peace without apology. #smartdoll More photos on the site. shop.smartdoll.jp/pages/inst… #smartdoll

In our most recent force gauge test, Cortex 2 shell components withstood over 100 kgf (~980 Newtons) of compressive force without any deformation. For context, kgf stands for “kilogram-force”—a unit measuring the force exerted by one kilogram of mass under standard Earth gravity. In simpler terms, it’s like placing a 100 kg (220 lb) weight on the part and seeing that it held its shape without being crushed. While Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) is naturally more impact-resistant and durable than sofubi (soft vinyl), this result isn’t just about material choice. It reflects refinements we’ve made to the internal geometry of the part—specifically in how it handles mechanical stress. When a structure is placed under pressure, stress tends to concentrate around its weakest points—often at corners, thin junctions, or sharp transitions. By smoothing out those transitions, reinforcing load-bearing paths, and reducing areas where stress could accumulate, we’ve enabled the part to better distribute force and withstand far greater loads. For comparison, the same component in the previous generation of Cortex failed at around 12 kgf—highlighting how far the design has come. It’s also important to recognize the lessons of the past. The original Cortex was developed with affordability as a priority—but that philosophy, while well-intentioned, ultimately led to structural compromises. We’ve taken those hard lessons to heart. With Cortex 2, we’ve invested considerable time, resources, and financial effort to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself. The results of our latest testing aren’t just technical benchmarks—they’re a reflection of that commitment to durability, reliability, and long-term value. ABS is highly resistant to impact, warping, and abrasion. It retains its shape in both high and low temperatures, whereas sofubi can soften in heat or become brittle in the cold. Cortex is also non-porous, meaning it’s less prone to absorbing stains from fabrics or exposure to the elements. The force gauge tests on the previous Cortex 1 is up on the site. shop.smartdoll.jp/pages/inst… #smartdoll

Cortex Arm Assembly. We’ll be posting some videos soon showing force gauge tests on the Cortex shell to demonstrate its strength and stability ;-) #smartdoll

Some of you may have already come across Ne Zha 2 — an animated film from China that weaves together myth, action, and emotion in a fresh take on a classic legend. I had the chance to watch it while we were in Guangzhou, and absolutely loved it! So much so that we decided to create a Smart Doll cosplay of Ne Zha in his awakened form — brought to life by Hana-chan and the team. I think they did an awesome job ;-) I heard the film was released internationally as well — did you happen to catch it? More photos and behind the scenes on the site shop.smartdoll.jp/pages/inst… #smartdoll