Human-like robots from Realbotix to help lonely senior citizens

Debora Pape

8.1.2026

Translation: machine translated

Robots are designed to do the work of humans in the home or in industry. However, the company Realbotix sees the purpose of its robots in human interaction.

The US robotics company Realbotix is presenting three of its human robots at CES: Aria, Melody and David. Visitors can talk to the robots and marvel at the new vision system: they follow people with their eyes and head turns using built-in cameras. According to Managing Director Andrew Kiguel, the robots recognise people and remember who they have already interacted with. And they should even be able to interpret emotions.

On Heise, you can see that the robot lady Melody also speaks German - at least a very artificial and non lip-synchronised form of German. In the FAQ on the company's website, you can also read that the robots only speak English due to the lack of lip-syncing for other languages. However, the English voice output does not yet come close to that of voice assistants such as Gemini.

Last year, Realbotix only had one robot, Melody, which was also only a prototype. The robots are now available on the market. Realbotix is not the only manufacturer specialising in humanoid robots. In contrast to Xpeng with its Iron model, which also imitates human gait, Realbotix focuses on interaction with humans.

Robots for human interaction

The silicone skin of the robots allows a realistic representation of wrinkles and other individual imperfections. According to Realbotix, a lifelike appearance and the ability to converse naturally are prerequisites for using the robots. They are intended to serve customers, provide training or act as a marketing highlight at trade fairs. It is also conceivable that they could be used in museums as replicas of historical figures to complement exhibitions.

Realbotix also addresses the «North American epidemic of loneliness»: robots could provide company for single senior citizens. In the future, they should also be able to lend a hand and help with eating or operating a smartphone, for example. Realbotix is therefore working on improving the robotic hands.

The models can be expanded modularly

The face of the robots can be removed and replaced in just a few simple steps. You can see this in this video. The robot head is equipped with 17 motors that allow 17 degrees of freedom (DoF). This allows various facial expressions and eye movements to be displayed.

The body is also modular. You can purchase a head for 20,000 US dollars and later add an upper body (39 DoF) or even a full body. The full body model, which is available from 125,000 US dollars, offers 44 DoF. The robot cannot walk, but it does have a mobile base. According to the company website, the battery lasts four to eight hours and the stationary models are simply plugged into a socket.

Realbotix also offers to build robots entirely according to your own ideas. At CES, for example, a model based on «Cyberpunk 2077» can be seen.

Debora Pape

Editor

Debora.Pape@galaxus.de

Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.

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