Roomba creator Colin Angle announces a dog-sized companion robot

In short: Colin Angle, the creator of the Roomba, has unveiled a new robot pet called Familiar that is meant to keep people company at home.

What happened

Colin Angle has revealed a new robot from his startup, Familiar Machines & Magic. Angle is known for the Roomba robot vacuum, which helped bring household robots to millions of homes.

The new product is called a “Familiar.” It is a dog-sized robot designed for human connection rather than chores like cleaning. The company describes it as a robot that can live in your home and interact with family members on its own.

In a demo video shown ahead of its appearance at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything event, the robot walks around on four legs like a pet. It has an expressive face, including moving eyebrows, ears, and eyes, plus a tail that can wag.

Angle told The Verge the robot uses “generative AI” (the kind of AI that can create and respond with new text, like a chatbot) and runs an “on-device model” (meaning the AI software runs on the robot itself, not only in a far-away data center). The goal, he said, is for the robot to develop a distinct personality over time.

Why it matters

People are already getting used to talking to AI through phones and computers. A robot like this puts that experience into a physical object that moves around your home, more like a pet than an app (think of it like a chatbot with legs). That raises practical questions for buyers, such as cost, safety around kids and pets, and how much trust you want to place in a machine designed to form an emotional bond.

Source: The Verge AI