Shanghai based AI robotics company Figurobot is building miniature humanoid robots that are designed to be desktop AI companions. This week it officially launched the Global Kickstarter campaign for FR-NIA (or more romantically named “Nian”) – an 11″/28CM female head (and shoulders) with silicone, life-like skin, that can rest on your desktop, bedside table, or shelf. As well as the ability to move its mouth, eyes, and eyebrows for expressive facial expressions, it can also “see” you, locate and track your position in a room, and talk. Although marketed as a companion, it’s not clear if it can engage in spicy chat. Limited early-bird pricing starts at $599.
Desktop AI companions are a growing industry, but Figurobot appears to be the first company to be producing realistic humanoid versions. Other Chinese companies have been launching Desktop 3D AI companions that appears as “holograms” in glass containers. This is not Figurobot’s first attempt either. An earlier Kickstarter campaign has resulted in something even more impressive – a humanoid that is not only twice as tall at 60CM, but has a full body with 27–30 degrees of freedom capable of walking, turning, squatting, and dancing. A new generation with 30 self-developed millimeter-scale torque joint servos was unveiled in August 2026.
According to Figurobot, their humanoids can understand the user’s emotional state, and eventually will not only be able to “see’, but also smell and taste. Figurobot desktop companions can also be controlled via a smartphone app. This allows you to adjust personality, “train” it for custom expressions, as well as real-time control of facial expressions.
Interestingly, Figurobot are pitching to developers the goal of to helping to “shape a new form of life
and (to) explore the future of human–AI coexistence together”. This sounds rather similar to the idea that I proposed here recently regarding AI companionship being a potential or even necessary solution to the alignment problem.
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