As the AI companion market explodes, the technology is quickly jumping from the digital to the physical world through robotics.
Globally, the market is expected to grow to more than $500 billion by 2033 at a compound annual rate of 36 percent. As companies invest billions into bringing AI out of screens and into the real world, experts predict that robots that remember you, understand your feelings, and talk naturally with you will be the norm.
Nevada-based Cartwheel Robotics just emerged from stealth, introducing its flagship humanoid robot named Yogi, engineered specifically to be your friend. The startup says the bipedal robot blends expressive personality, soft robotics, and trust centered design.
“It’s expressive, emotionally intelligent and full of personality, not just a piece of technology but a presence you can feel,” Cartwheel founder Scott LaValley told IEEE Spectrum.
The industry veteran founded Cartwheel in 2021 in Reno, with the goal of developing emotionally intelligent androids for companionship in the home. LaValley has been known in robotics circles since the 1990s.
After working as a puppeteer for Walt Disney Imagineering on the 1997 sci-fi comedy Flubber starring Robin Williams, he competed in the original Robot Wars with his creations DoMore and DoLittle. In 2000, he competed with a more advanced robo called DoAll on Comedy Central’s BattleBots. That same year, he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with his robot.
He spent nearly seven years, from 2009 to 2016, at Boston Dynamics, serving as lead mechanical engineer on the Massachusetts robotics firm’s six-legged rugged robot RHex. The robot, developed with DARPA funding, mimicked the locomotion of insects like cockroaches, moving three legs at a time to keep itself stable on challenging terrain.
The engineer was also a key contributor on the design and build of the robotics leader’s first bipedal robot called Petman. The humanoid robot, whose name stands for Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin, was designed for the US Army to evaluate chemical protection suits under realistic conditions.
A precursor to the world-famous Atlas humanoid robot, Petman could walk, squat, crawl, and perform calisthenics, simulating human physiology by controlling temperature, humidity, and sweating inside the suit. The level of realism was crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of protective gear.
He went on to lead Project Kiwi at Walt Disney Imagineering, which culminated in a fully autonomous bipedal robot modeled after Baby Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy. The prototype stands about 76 centimeters and features more than 50 degrees of freedom (DoF) for expressive gestures and realistic locomotion. Its design includes custom actuators and a hollow skeletal structure for cooling purposes.
The team focused on infusing the robot with a personality, ensuring it could convey emotions through movement and eye contact. With advanced sensors and onboard computing, the robot can recognize faces and respond to people.
Cartwheel shared renderings of the Yogi prototype, which is designed with toddler proportions. The large head, rounded eyes, and slightly chubby appearance, reminiscent of Casper the Ghost, are intended to make it seem more like a character than a machine.
A customizable version called Speedy is more streamlined for deployment in public spaces like museums and science centers. Both robots are being developed with artificial intelligence that’s capable of context aware behaviors.
In an interview with IEEE Spectrum, the founder acknowledged the big challenges in bringing social robots for home to market.
Previous attempts include Jibo, a social robot designed to assist families that failed to take off despite 70 million dollars in funding, and Moxie, a child-focused companion that shut down despite initial acclaim.
“There are a lot of things we don’t understand,” he said. “This is going to take a while. We have to work our way to understanding and then addressing the problem set, and our approach is to find development partners and get our robots out into the real world.”
Previous attempts include Jibo, a social robot designed to assist families that failed to take off even with $70 million in funding, and Moxie by Embodied, a child-focused companion that shut down despite initial acclaim. A Moxie robot is featured in the upcoming sequel to the techno horror hit M3GAN.
Cartwheel Robotics aims to make Yogi much more physically capable than previous social robots. Though it’s not yet ready to complete household tasks, Cartwheel says that’s part of its long-term vision for the bipedal robot.
The Yogi prototype is much smaller than other AI-powered humanoid robots being developed today for household use, like NEO by 1X Technologies, the Figure 02 by Figure AI, and Tesla’s Optimus, which just showcased its dexterous dance movements unlocked with reinforcement learning and onboard artificial intelligence in a new video.
Though most of the humanoid robots generating buzz today are geared toward industrial and research applications, Cartwheel Robotics is joining a growing number of firms focused on social dynamics.
The Chinese startup AheadForm is developing next-generation emotionally intelligent humanoid robots to serve as AI companions. Founder Yuhang Hu, who has a PhD in robotics from Columbia University, says he’s building robots that learn from humans.
During his time at Columbia’s Creative Machines Lab, he developed the android head, Emo, under the mentorship of Professor Hod Lipson. The robot, which was featured on the Bloomberg special Posthuman with Emily Chang, can predict emotions and mirror human facial expressions in real-time.
AheadForm creates ultra-realistic robotic faces the startup says can engage in natural, emotionally resonant interactions. The company recently unveiled its Real Elf series robots that feature up to 30 artificial muscles for nuanced facial expressions and this hyper-realistic Monk android.
Self-developed high-performance brushless micromotors deliver ultra-quiet operation and high responsiveness. The motors are designed specifically for humanoid facial movements that Hu believes are essential to meaningful human-robot interactions.
The founder says the robots are being trained to predict human feelings and behaviors rather than just respond to words. The hardware integrates with large language and vision language models to process and interpret complex data from interactions.
Meanwhile, Sophia by Hanson Robotics, arguably the world’s most famous social robot, showcased its upgraded design and enhanced intelligence talking to filmmaker Springna Zhao. They also talked about the director’s new movie called The Absolutely Amazing, Wonderful, Frightening, Threatening Edge of Tomorrow that explores how Web 3 technologies like blockchain, NFTs, and AI are changing art, finance, and society.
Sophia, meanwhile, is the subject of another documentary, My Robot Sophia, which shows David Hanson’s struggles developing and commercializing the robot. Read more about the weird rise of Hanson Robotics right here.