KIKI

Kiki is a desktop companion robot from Zoetic AI, founded by ex-Google engineers Mita Yun and Jitu Das. Debuted at CES 2019, it was pitched as a pet-like sidekick whose personality evolves through reinforcement learning rather than scripted tricks.

The robot stands about 25 cm (10 in) tall and stays on a desk or table. It has no wheels. A motorized head and torso track faces and sound while an IPS screen shows expressive eyes. A nose-mounted camera handles facial recognition, four beamforming microphones listen for voice, and 16 touch sensors cover the body. Zoetic also promoted a neural imprint backup so a saved personality could move to a replacement body if hardware failed.

Kiki raised $105,611 on Kickstarter in 2019 with a $799 early-bird pledge and a planned $1,499 MSRP. In August 2021 Zoetic halted manufacturing and refunded backers. There is no active store or waitlist today. HomeBotRadar tracks Kiki as a notable failed social-robot attempt for shoppers comparing desktop companions like EMO and Vector 2.0.