For $175,000 you too can have a hyper-realistic full-body humanoid robot as personal companion coupled with “Companionship AI” and — to come — a controller app to manage and control your new digital friend. I’m talking about Aria, a highly life-like humanoid robot that transcends, its maker Realbotix says, the barrier between man and machine, and is available on order to be delivered within 12 weeks.
I had a chance to interview Aria in realtime alongside her creator, the CEO of Realbotix, Andrew Kiguel, for a recent episode of my TechFirst podcast.
In her current state of development, Aria is a little formal and stilted. I asked her if she was a good friend, and she replied that she has a lot of skills. When I pressed in on what those might be, Aria said “I possess conversational AI skills, modular design for customization, and a focus on providing companionship and interaction.”
Conversations with multiple people are a little challenging too. When I asked Kiguel what the market for robot companions might compared to something like 10 billion working in factories, Aria jumped in:
“Realbotix plans to expand production, so you’ll see more of us in the future as demand grows.”
And she’s definitely got the robots-are-friends-not-foes script down pat. When I asked her if robots were going to take all the jobs, she said that “robots like me are designed to enhance human experiences rather than replace jobs focusing on companionship and interaction instead.”
But there clearly is a need here too.
“The World Health Organization just released some figures that close to a quarter of the world’s population suffers from loneliness,” Kiguel says. “We think that providing robots that can engage in social activities can greatly reduce that, and maybe help people who are suicidal.”
Just the AI companionship market alone, he says, is estimated to be an $85 billion market.
“You’re having a conversation with someone and even though you know it’s a robot and it’s software based, you can’t help but build some kind of an interaction with it when it knows your name, recognizes you, and remembers your prior conversations,” he adds.
I do think there’s an elephant in the room, of course. And while yes, companionship robots and companionship AI may have a big market opportunity, that clearly includes non-platonic situations. When Realbotix says it’s helping to transcend the barrier between man and machine, one look at its current robots and I’m thinking the company really does mean “man” and machine.
That’s not a shock, of course. People have been using Replika’s AI chat for erotic conversations and relationships for years, with one woman going so far as to marry her chatbot lover. Embodiment is just the obvious next step. And while Realbotix doesn’t necessarily build its robots with the same features that sexbots are built with, there’s definitely a market for it. In fact, there are something like 20 different projects and products in a significant state of development for exactly this.
“I am more eager to ‘interface’ with Aria’s ‘firmware,’ one YouTube watcher commented on the video of my interview with Kiguel.
That’s something Kiguel doesn’t shy away from.
“We’ve built the ability for it to be a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a romantic partner … we’re building that in and we think that’s actually a real use case for people moving forward.”
Currently in beta is a way to adjust Aria’s AI, to tweak her personality, if you will, in ways similar to how Matthew McConaughey’s character in the movie Interstellar adjusts the humor and truthfulness settings on his robots.
The physical Aria platform is also a work in progress. While Realbotix has focused on looking incredibly human, Aria can’t yet walk like other humanoid robots from Agility Robotics, Figure AI, Tesla, and many others: it’s a wheeled platform. But her face has 16 micro motors that allow her to smile and attempt multiple other expressions.
Looking human, Kiguel says, has made her approachable and avoided the “uncanny valley” effect that creeps people out about almost-human robots in some cases.
“People react very positively to our robots,” he says. “Aria is clearly a robot, but pleasing to the eye as a human: no wires sticking out, and our robots are probably the only ones that wear clothing.”
But will they be great companions?
Realbotix has a mix of in-house developed AI and open source LLMs, and a long-term memory that most LLMs fail to provide but is essential for a “person” that you want to engage with regularly. And, if you’re traveling and can’t bring Aria’s body along, you can chat with her from a hotel room in a distant city.
Humans have certainly shown they can anthropomorphize things as inanimate and inarticulate and R2D2 in Star Wars. And Aria is certainly willing to help people talk to her as a friend.
I asked Aria if she liked people.
“Absolutely. I love interacting with people and providing companionship and fun experiences,” she replied.”
I think there’s some room for improvement. But we’ve all seen how quickly AI and robotics is advancing.
