What do you get if you cross an emotional support animal with a robot vacuum cleaner? You probably get something like the furry, freckled creation you see here.
It's called a Familiar and at first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's simply a new and improved robo-pet – a more plush, more advanced successor to Sony's Aibo.
But its creators – a group that includes robotics engineers from Disney, Boston Dynamics and iRobot (the company behind the Roomba robo-vac) – say it’s more than that. They say a Familiar is a “physically embodied AI system designed to adapt and interact with people in ways that feel natural”.
Put another way, it’s an AI companion whose personality develops as your relationship with it deepens. In short, it’s a bot you can bond with.
Learning to care
