Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s ‘The Future of Everything Festival’, Angle unveiled the first product from his new startup, Familiar Machines & Magic. The company is focused on building robots that go beyond cleaning tasks and engage emotionally with their owners.
The inventor behind the world-famous robot vacuum is now designing robots that form an emotional bond with their owners.
Colin Angle shared the first product of his new startup, Familiar Machines & Magic, at WSJ’s Future of Everything.
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Unlike the Roomba, this new robot is designed to act like a companion. It looks like a furry, four-legged creature with big, expressive eyes and behaves in a dog-like way.
The robot, known as Familiardoes not talk or work like a smart assistant, but it can react to human actions and emotions. It is built to react to your emotions, respond to how you treat it and build a kind of emotional bond with you.
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“It isn’t just a robot pet, he insists. It’s not a smart assistant either. It won’t talk, but it will react to your actions and feelings in an emotionally intelligent way,” said Angle.
He further mentioned, “I want to build a relationship between human and machine that is fundamentally different from the relationship between the Roomba and a customer. I want to feel like the machine I’m building actually cares about me.”
Angle and his team decided to call their robot Familiar because the name is inspired by the ideal of animal companions in folklore that stay close to and support their owners.
The Familiar is designed to pick up on things like your tone of voice, body language, and overall mood, and respond in a way that feels natural. Instead of giving commands or speaking like a smart assistant, it communicates through movement and behavior.
In the near future, the company plans to use these robots to help people monitor loved ones, such as elderly parents living alone or dependent adults. “The company is also keen to sell Familiars to people who’d like to support their own well-being. Further along, the company hopes to license its emotionally intelligent AI to other companies,” says Angle.
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The idea of robot companions isn’t new as many have failed before. Products like Sony Aibo, Pleo by Ugobe, and Jibo couldn’t last long in the market. But co-founder Chris Jones believes this time is different because of advanced artificial intelligence.
“Earlier, even devices like the Roomba from iRobot struggled to recognize simple objects. However, with AI systems, it can interpret facial expressions, gestures and behaviour,” he added.
Currently, the version shown at The Future of Everything Festival is still an early prototype, so details like price, launch date, and final design are not confirmed yet.
