Colin Angle, the mastermind behind the Roomba and iRobot, has unveiled a new furry robot companion named ‘Familiar’. This dog-sized quadruped is designed to form emotional connections with its owners, offering an alternative to traditional robot assistants that focus on chores.

The Familiar, codenamed Ami, boasts expressive facial features and can move around the home independently. It will use AI to develop a personality, aiming to serve in high human connection roles such as companionship, entertainment, hospitality, smart home support, eldercare, and parental support.

Angle believes this is the next era of robotics, focusing on building and sustaining human connections rather than just dexterity or humanoid form. The robot will be available around the same price as pet ownership in a year’s time, with initial use cases focused on families with young children, companionship for the elderly, and addressing global loneliness.

Reflecting on his three-decade career in robotics, Angle says it is finally possible to create artificial life that can learn from its owners, remember patterns, and adapt to routines. The Familiar will be powered by Nvidia's Jetson Orin chip, with a custom small multimodal model optimized for social reasoning.