The creator of Roomba is back with a furry robot companion

Colin Angle, the maker of the Roomba and the man who helped put 50 million household robots into people’s homes, is back with a new robot. But this one is designed as a companion, not a cleaner.

The creator of Roomba is back with a furry robot companion

Colin Angle revealed his latest creation this week: a dog-sized robot ‘Familiar’ designed for human connection, not chores. The first robot from Angle’s new company, Familiar Machines & Magic, is a dog-sized robotic pet that resembles a cross between a bear, a barn owl, and a golden retriever. It has an expressive face, with movable eyebrows, ears, and eyes, and the company calls it a “Familiar,” a name meant to evoke folklore around the idea of a supernatural companion.

The Familiar is a “physically embodied AI system” that will use generative AI, via an on-device model, to engage with its owner with the intent of forming an emotional connection and develop “a distinct personality.” Robots that can react and respond to humans should, in theory, be more effective serving in “high human connection roles,” such as companionship, entertainment, eldercare, and parental support. “The next era of robotics is not just about dexterity or humanoid form — it’s about machines that can build and sustain human connection,” says Angle.

Internally codenamed Ami, the first Familiar won’t be available to buy until next year at the earliest, and will cost “around the same as pet ownership.” Angle and his team, including veterans from Disney, MIT, and Boston Dynamics, decided not to have the Familiar talk. Instead, it will make nonverbal sounds and communicate through body language, aided by a camera-based vision system and microphone array. With 23 degrees of freedom, the robot can move its head, neck, ears, eyes, and eyebrows.

The Familiar is powered by Nvidia’s Jetson Orin chip. Its onboard edge AI stack is powered by a custom small multimodal model optimized for social reasoning. It doesn’t require an internet connection and doesn’t stream audio or video to the cloud, a purposeful design decision to protect privacy. Angle hopes this AI-powered companion could help address the growing problem of loneliness and provide an alternative to technology that keeps us glued to screens.