AI-mounted communicative robot pet goes on sale in Japan

KAZINFORM - The Tokyo-based tech venture Groove X on Tuesday unveiled an artificial-intelligence equipped robot pet that can sense people's emotions and communicate with them, Kyodo News reports. The doll-like robot named "LOVOT" will be shipped in the autumn of 2019 as a set of two with a price tag of 598,000 yen ($5,300) plus a monthly service fee expected to be around 20,000 yen. A single LOVOT will be available in 2020 and will cost 349,000 yen plus a monthly fee of around 10,000 yen. The big-eyed robot, featuring a bevy of sensors, recognizes its owners' facial expressions and obeys commands, Groove X said. Weighing 3 kilograms and standing 43 centimeters tall, the mechanical pet has an internal camera and learns the layout of its household so it can move around without crashing into furniture.