The man who put a Roomba in every home wants to replace your dog with a plush robot
May 17, 2026 – 9:15 am
Image by: Familiar Machines & Magic
TL;DR
Roomba creator Colin Angle unveiled the Familiar, an AI pet robot with touch-sensitive fur that adapts to your daily habits.
Colin Angle, the robotics engineer who co-founded iRobot and spent 25 years turning the Roomba into the world’s most widely adopted home robot, has revealed the prototype for his next project: a four-legged, plush-covered AI companion designed to follow you around your house, learn from your habits, and offer emotional companionship.
The Robot: Familiar
The device, developed by startup Familiar Machines & Magic, is roughly the size of a bulldog, with doe-like eyes, bear cub ears, and paws, and covered in synthetic fur that’s touch-sensitive. It produces emotive sounds reminiscent of animal noises but doesn’t speak. It possesses audio input to learn from human voices and its AI system, leveraging recent advancements in generative AI, adapts its behavior over time as it gets to know its owners.
“We chose a form factor that’s not a human, not a dog, not a cat… This is about having something that you want to hug, you want to pet. When it’s happy, that makes you happy.” — Colin Angle
Historical Context
The idea of an artificial companion animal isn’t new. Sony’s Aibo and MIT researcher Cynthia Breazeal‘s Kismet and Jibo are notable examples from the past. However, Angle believes the Familiar is distinct due to advancements in generative AI, enabling contextual learning and adaptive behavior previously lacking in social robots.
The Future of Companion Robots
The timing aligns with iRobot’s recent challenges. As Angle, one of its co-founders, looks to his next venture, he aims to bring a unique and personalized robot companion to the market that goes beyond mere companionship.