Moflin's story begins in 2012. At that time, Ichikawa had just transferred to the product planning department and was tasked with developing products for women. Whilst pursuing "something I would want myself," she faced various challenges common to women in their late twenties to early thirties: career, relationships, life planning. Rather than finding separate solutions for each concern, she arrived at a concept in 2014: "I want a companion that supports me as I face these challenges."

Meanwhile, from around 2016, the development team led by Nimura had been working on "expressing the charm of small animals through mechatronics." Starting with prototypes modelling small creatures, they pursued lifelike expressions such as grasping food and twisting spine movements. However, they faced a challenge: the more joints they added, the larger the device became.

This prompted a shift in approach. They focused on movements that particularly expressed liveliness and aimed to achieve them with minimal actuation. To bring it closer to a real creature, they added fur. The prototype was completed in June 2017 and received tremendous response at its in-house presentation.

In 2018, Ichikawa's planning team merged with Nimura's development team. Market research was conducted, confirming positive response from the target demographic. The prototype, which had been a "bundle of functions," was thus transformed into a "bundle of emotions."

The Struggles of a Company Built on "Convenience" 

However, the path forward was far from smooth. The company's long-cultivated "commitment to functionality" ironically became a barrier to this new challenge.

Even with positive market research results, approval for commercialisation remained elusive. Questions arose: "Will it truly sell?" "Won't it just be a passing fad?" They needed to provide clear answers to these concerns.

Between 2018 and 2019, the project faced a "critical period" when most team members were transferred to other departments. The remaining few struggled to maintain development with severely limited resources - a truly challenging period. Nevertheless, the development team refused to give up and continued pushing forward with their technical work.

An Unwavering Spirit Leads to Crowdfunding

The turning point came through collaboration with Vanguard Industries Inc., a Japanese hardware start-up. To gain approval for "a product that embraces emotion," they needed to prove both "it will sell" and "it won't become tiresome" – hence their choice of POC (Proof of Concept) through crowdfunding.

Casio provided licensing for Moflin's dsign and technical specifications, whilst Vanguard Industries took responsibility for executing the crowdfunding campaign and manufacturing. This venture proved remarkably successful, confirming that "this is truly a product people want."

In July 2022, Casio started the internal approval process for the official launch of Moflin as its own product. Approval was finally obtained in February 2023, with the mass production team kick-off following in March. More than a decade had passed since the project's inception.

During mass production, the development division posed numerous questions: "Why was this component chosen?" "Why this design?" Explaining the rationale behind each choice was often challenging. However, each such verification ultimately enhanced the product's quality.

Moflin's Vision for the Future