Beyond autonomous humanoids for home assistance, robotic pets are one of the main areas of innovation for artificial intelligence. And Colin Angle, promoter of Roomba and former CEO of iRobot, has entered into it with his new business project, Familiar Machines & Magic, which proposes the Familiars, a series of companion robots in the shape of animals and emotional intelligence.
Two decades after revolutionizing consumer robotics with the popular robotic vacuum cleaner, Angle returns to the front line of the corporate ecosystem with an ambitious vision of artificial life, which he presented at the “Future of Everything” conference, The Wall Street Journal. That has been the framework chosen to discover the first “Familiar”, a robot shaped like an animal and designed to perceive, adapt and interact with people in a natural and coherent way.
As the company explains in a statement, a “Familiar” is designed for social interaction and both its hardware and its artificial intelligence architecture are optimized for the expressive movement of the entire body, which communicates attention, consciousness and intention.
The first specimen is a quadruped, with an appearance that crosses those of a dog, a polar bear and an owl, covered with a textile covering that would emulate animal skin. Its intelligent system allows both realistic movements and expressive behaviors. Thus, he can move his head, neck, ears, eyes and eyebrows, and walk, but he cannot grasp objects or climb stairs.
It features a vision system, a microphone array, and an audio system to facilitate rich interactions. However, “Familiar” does not speak, but it does make sounds such as meows and purrs. It works with Nvidia’s Jetson Orin chip, and does not require an internet connection, although it can connect, and does not transmit audio or video to the cloud, with the intention of protecting privacy.
According to the company, unlike humanoid robots, designed to replicate the human form for industrial purposes, “Familiar” is deliberately designed to be accessible and provide accompaniment, presence and interaction in everyday environments. This is because it combines context, memory and adaptive behavior to create a consistent experience over time.
“The next era of robotics is not just about dexterity or humanoid form, but about machines capable of building and maintaining human connections“Commented Colin Angle, Co-Founder and CEO of Familiar Machines & Magic, in a statement.”Today the company comes out of anonymity to share our vision of systems that go beyond the simple execution of tasks and integrate naturally into everyday life.”.
According to The Vergethe first Familiar will not be available for sale until next year at the earliest, and will cost, as the company has pointed out, approximately the same as having a pet. The intended use cases focus on families with young children, companionship for seniors, and combating loneliness.
Colin Angle assures that Familiar Machines & Magic will open a new path in the physical artificial intelligence market. He points out that the race in this field will not be won with the most impressive innovation, but with the system that people choose to live together. “Consumer physical AI requires human connection: the ability not only to perform physical tasks, but also to understand, communicate, and respond intuitively and empathetically.”; the company points out in the statement.
In this sense, they consider that the opportunities for innovation and development extend beyond the home, and pose more possibilities than chatbots. Familiar Machines & Magic maintains that physical AI outperforms screens in emotional tasks because people respond more intensely to presence, and although chatbots are widely used for emotional support, they tend to be less effective and beneficial for users.
Colin Angle assures that Familiar Machines & Magic will draw on his more than three decades of experience in robotics, and through it he will implement his original vision. It should be remembered that the original name of iRobot, founded in 1990, was Artificial Creatures Inc., but it did not have the necessary technology to develop so-called “artificial life.”
Angle stepped down as CEO of iRobot in 2024, following the company’s failed sale to Amazon. Since then, he has assembled a team of robotics experts and engineers from both iRobot and companies such as Disney, MIT, Boston Dynamics and Amazon, to shape the new project.
