This Could Be Your AI Robot Girlfriend — For $175,000

Realbotix is an American firm with a range of AI robots that it claims can fulfill a variety of roles, including acting as a brand representative at a sales booth, as a companion for an elderly person or even as a romantic partner “to tackle the staggering loneliness epidemic.”

The robots range from a $12,000 bust that is basically a talking head and shoulders that you might place on a table, to the top-of-the-range Aria, shown above. It’s a $175,000 model that can move its limbs and moves around on a circular plinth, like a mannequin riding a Roomba vacuum cleaner. There’s even a mid-range model costing $150,000 that can be disassembled and packaged into a suitcase to take with you.

“Human-like robots”

Realbotix’s CEO, Andrew Kiguel, told me the company’s mission is to “create robots that are indistinguishable from humans.”

Yet, Kiguel remains bullish about Aria’s abilities. “We think we have the most realistic robots in the world in terms of their appearance,” he said.

“There are two key things in robotics that are kind of like the nirvana. One is walking. We're going to let the big guys like Tesla work on that. But the other key piece is facial expressions, and so we're really keen on making robots that can create emotion, show you what they're feeling,” he added.

Indeed, he argues that the emotional bond with the robots could grow so strong that you treat them as a partner. “We’re taking it to a different level that nobody else is really doing,” said Kiguel. “It can be like a romantic partner. It remembers who you are. It can act as a boyfriend or girlfriend. If you ever saw that movie Her, we're trying to do that.”

Kiguel was quick to insist Aria was not a sex toy, “but it can have, what I would say, conversations of a more intimate nature,” he added.

Face Swap

Aria’s eyes aren’t just cosmetic — they’re hidden cameras used for visual recognition, meaning it can identify the person it is talking to and objects in its field of vision. For example, Kiguel said, it might spot that you’re eating an Apple and ask how it tastes. It’s probably best not to offer Aria a bite, though.

And if you get tired of looking at Aria and fancy a change, you don’t have to go to the expense of buying a completely new robot — you can simply swap out its face. The “realistic” skin of the faces can be magnetically detached and replaced with a new visage. “You can actually remove the faces off our robots in under five seconds,” Kiguel said.

“The body parts are also modular, so we can actually pull them apart, put different faces on and create a whole new robotic character off the same chassis,” he added, comparing it to customizing the appearance of your car.

Just make sure to dress your robot in something appropriate before introducing it to your mother.