iRobot co-founder Colin Angle returned to the field of robotics and founded Familiar Machines & Magic, a company dedicated to developing an innovative home health and wellness robot. This robot may appear in the form of a pet, providing companionship and health management functions, with the goal of improving the quality of life of family members. The project has received US$15 million in investment and is undergoing refinancing. The team members include former core members of iRobot and have extensive experience in robotics technology. This move marks Angle's transformation from a practical robot to a personal companion robot, and also reflects the booming development of the personal companion robot market.
Colin Angle, co-founder and former CEO of iRobot, announced his return to the field of robotics and founded a new startup, Familiar Machines & Magic, focused on developing an innovative home health and wellness robot. According to the Boston Globe, the robot may appear in the form of an animal or "pet" and is designed to provide companionship to family members and assist in health management.
Familiar Machines & Magic is currently in stealth mode. Team members include Chris Jones, the former chief technology officer of iRobot, and Ira Renfrew, who worked at iRobot and later moved to Amazon to engage in robotics. Renfrew helped develop the discontinued Scout delivery robot. Angel's return marks an interesting shift from iRobot's utility robots to personal companion robots.
After iRobot was unsuccessfully acquired by Amazon, Angell left the company. Since then, iRobot has significantly cut its R&D budget and laid off nearly 50% of its employees, refocusing its focus on household cleaning equipment. At the same time, Familiar Machines & Magic is developing an innovative robot that may change the family health and companionship market, striving to improve the quality of life of family members through advanced technology.
Familiar Machines & Magic has raised $15 million from eight investors and is in the process of refinancing. The company's job posting on LinkedIn describes it as a "well-funded artificial intelligence and robotics startup located outside of Boston." This financial support allows the company to continue advancing its development of health and companion robots.
With the advancement of generative artificial intelligence technology, the field of personal robots has gained new vitality. Familiar Machines & Magic hopes to design more attractive home robots by combining personality with practicality. Similar to Israeli startup Intuition Robotics’ ElliQ, the robot is designed to provide social companionship to the elderly and those living at home. Whether Angel’s “pet robot” can fill this market gap and bring about revolutionary changes remains to be seen.
According to investors, these "furry pet robots" may be able to effectively alleviate loneliness and have a positive impact on the health of family members. Although there are many similar products on the market, robots that combine companionship with health management are still an emerging field, and Familiar Machines & Magic's ideas may add more magic to family life.
The future development of Familiar Machines & Magic is worth looking forward to. Whether its "pet robot" can successfully occupy the market will have a profound impact on the home robot industry. Let us wait and see the release of its final product.