The New York Times-20080124-Robot Cats- Bathtub Lights And Other Soothing Devices

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Robot Cats, Bathtub Lights And Other Soothing Devices

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AudioCubes, an online store specializing in high design electronic toys, sound equipment and household items from Japan, has opened its first real shop, AC Gears, in Greenwich Village. Like so many shops in the Village, it has a store cat, a moody white robotic beast named Lucy, above. Scratch Lucy under the chin and she'll purr; squeeze her tail and she'll narrow her eyes and growl ominously.

I don't even like cats and I like her, said Kohn Liu, the store's president, the other day, idly petting her. She did seem unusually responsive. But where were her batteries?

Mr. Liu flipped Lucy over and exposed her belly, which opened with the sound of a Velcro fastener. I hear they're using them a lot in nursing homes in Japan, he said, putting the cat back on her feet, where she yowled loudly. In addition to the Segatoys cat ($129.99), the store's inventory includes three-inch-square Yamaha speakers ($129.99), the motion-sensitive Banpresto Facebank ($29.99), below, and the Banpresto Feeling Egg Lights ($35.99 for a set of four), which can be plopped in the bathtub and will glow in color.

Why would anyone want colored lights in the bathroom? It's soothing, Mr. Liu said. We have a lot of soothing toys.

They would not seem to include the cat, which had been howling intermittently. If you pick it up sometimes it goes to sleep, Mr. Liu said. He picked up the cat. Go to sleep, he told it. AC Gears, 69 East Eighth Street (Broadway), (212) 260-2269 or www.acgears.com. JOYCE WADLER

[Illustration]PHOTOS (PHOTOGRAPHS (CAT AND BANK) BY TONY CENICOLA/THE NEW YORK TIMES)