---
title: "A Japanese Cafe Is Hosting Playdates, Parties for Robot Dogs"
description: "Tokyo's Penguin Café hosts a popular event for robot dogs and their owners, many of whom dress the bots up, and even celebrate their birthday at the cafe."
date: "2020-01-02"
modified: "2020-01-02"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/japanese-cafe-robot-dogs-playdates-parties"
categories:
  - "Robot Dogs"
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "aibo"
  - "robot dogs"
  - "the digest"
  - "Tokyo"
---

# A Japanese Cafe Is Hosting Playdates, Parties for Robot Dogs

![Tokyo's Penguin Café hosts a popular event for robot dogs and their owners, many of whom dress the bots up, and even celebrate their birthday at the cafe.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/japanese-cafe-robot-dogs-playdates-parties.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Sony/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Strange Subculture

Every Sunday, Tokyo's Penguin Café opens an hour early to host an unusual group of visitors: robot dogs and their owners.

A new *BuzzFeed News* [story](<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosalindadams/aibo-robot-dogs-japan>) dives deep into both the event and the people who've fallen in love with robodogs — and foreshadows a future in which more animal lovers might opt for [mechanical pets](<https://futurism.com/our-future-pets-plastic-metal-instead-flesh-blood>) over mortal ones.

## Pet Project

The [weekly event](<http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201812290011.html>) — named "Aibo World" after Sony's popular line of robot dogs — launched in November 2018, a few months after the Penguin Café's owner Nobuhiro Futaba bought his own Aibo.

By the time *BuzzFeed* visited the cafe for one of the meetups — which included a "birthday" celebration for not one, but two of the robot dogs — it was so popular that Futaba had to turn customers without robodogs away from the shop.

https://youtu.be/r-YFZBm33xQ

## A Robot Dog's Life

When asked by *BuzzFeed* why they chose an Aibo over a real dog, attendees at the meetup gave a variety of reasons, including a lack of room, long work hours, and a concern that a barking dog might annoy their neighbors.

But according to *BuzzFeed*, one specific reason seemed to crop up the most: the Aibo owners didn't want to have to cope with the death of a beloved pet.These owners \*really\* love their mechanical pups.

"It would break my heart to have another dog die," one attendee told *BuzzFeed* through a translator — and by channeling her love into a robot dog, she doesn't have to worry about that future grief.

**READ MORE:** [All Robot Dogs Go To The Cloud](<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosalindadams/aibo-robot-dogs-japan>) \[*BuzzFeed News*\]

**More on robot dogs:** *[Our Future Pets May be Plastic and Metal Instead of Flesh and Blood](<https://futurism.com/our-future-pets-plastic-metal-instead-flesh-blood>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)