Introducing ‘Tailly’, The Robotic Tail That Lets Humans Express Emotion Like Dogs

In case you have a hard time showing your emotion to your loved ones, a Japanese inventor named Shota Ishiwatari believes that he has solved your problems with his latest creation. Dubbed “Tailly,” Ishiwatari has created a robotic appendage that human beings can attach to their backsides, and based on their heart rate, Tailly will move accordingly to express emotion, much like a dog’s tail.

This is obviously terrible news for the people who make their livings writing Hallmark cards.

According to the Tailly Kickstarter project:

Tailly is not just a toy, nor is it a fashion accessory or a gadget. It is those three items combined, and, since it reacts to the heart beat rate, an extension of the users’ body. Tailly is fun to wear to parties, while out with friends or playing with kids. You could even wear Tailly on a date and express your true feelings through the wagging tail. Even better, your partner could also wear one for the both of you to add a level of subconscious communication between the two of you.

Sounds pretty great, right? Just reading about it would have my robotic appendage moving from left to right at a medium pace. It’s too bad that the Kickstarter project wasn’t successful, because I would have liked to chip in an old Buffalo nickel or two to make Ishiwatari’s dream come true. Fortunately, he’s not giving up and Tailly now has an Indiegogo account, through which $4,205 has currently been pledged toward the $50,000 that Ishiwatari requires to complete his project.

And he’d better hurry, because the Japanese company Neurowear is also developing a tail that connects to a human’s brain waves to display emotion. Either way, I just hope that Ishiwatari and Neurowear will be able to work the most dangerous human tail kinks of all: