AI Companion Robots Are Closing the Human Connection in Modern Homes

Source: IEEE Spectrum Robotics·2026-08-25 18:00Publish time unverified

This article is brought to you by Ollobot. From about 2017, individuals began to truly connect with the initial wave of companion robots. These devices had personality, moved around, joked, and answered when you spoke to them. Most early companion robots, however, were still limited by simple voice-command interactions and narrow functionality. Once the novelty wore off, many ended up sitting unused on shelves.