iRobot Co-Founder Colin Angle Launches Boston Startup Selling AI-Powered Robotic Bear Companion

Colin Angle has founded Familiar Machines & Magic in Boston to commercialize a four-legged, pet-inspired robot designed as an abstract bear. The company, which has raised $30 million in funding, plans to start selling its robot next year. The robot is named the Familiar, a reference to supernatural animal companions associated with witches.

The Familiar is meant to offer companionship, emotional support, and gentle nudges toward healthier routines. "The Familiar is a pet-inspired robot that lives in your home, pays attention to you and your world, and supports you as an attentive physical presence that coaches you toward healthy routines," Colin Angle told Business Insider.

" Familiar Machines recruited talent from iRobot, Boston Dynamics, and Disney.

The company hired Hollywood screenwriters to create stories that define the Familiar's character. Those stories were used to train the AI model that powers the robot. The Familiar does not speak but understands human speech and responds in an emotionally intelligent way.

It is layered in sensors so it can respond to touch. "Our coat is beautiful to touch," Colin Angle said. In the near term, Familiar Machines plans to market the robot to older adults who want some of the benefits of a pet without the responsibilities, as well as consumers looking to support their own well-being.

The robot's upfront price will be comparable to buying a pet, Colin Angle stated. Over time, the company hopes to license its AI to other companies. Angle left iRobot in 2024 after more than three decades.

4 billion acquisition deal with Amazon. He sees the new venture as distinct from his work on the Roomba, which performed a single-purpose cleaning task. "Robots have long been associated with dull, dirty, dangerous, angular metal," Angle told Business Insider.

The Familiar's entire AI stack runs on the robot itself with no need to stream anything to the cloud. Users can choose to connect the Familiar to the cloud to adapt over time and download new behaviors. Physical AI is estimated to create $5 trillion of market value over the next few decades.

5 trillion of the estimated physical AI market value, according to Colin Angle. Familiar Machines designed its robot as an "abstract bear" to avoid creating expectations that might disappoint, unlike attempts to mimic humans, cats or dogs. The company worked with Hollywood writers to shape the robot companion's personality through stories of intelligent creatures with special connections to people.

Generative AI then translated those into tens of thousands of mini stories and variations for training. This combination of touch, physical agency and AI creates something distinct from any robot that has ever existed, Angle said. The Familiar can move in a user's space, follow them to the kitchen or go for a walk.

It recognizes faces and emotional states to output socially appropriate actions. Six months ago some of this technology did not exist, according to the company.