Company and conversation

The short answer: two robots in this site’s data make companionship claims (conversation, games, reading with children), and both are sold only in mainland China. Neither has been announced for any other market this site tracks.

This site has not tested any robot. Everything below comes from what vendors and the press have published, labelled by how well it is established.

What this page covers

Keeping someone company is real household work, and this site counts it as one of a robot’s tasks. But a robot that only keeps people company, however well, is a companion device, and is not listed here. To be on this site a robot must also do at least one physical household chore. Well-known companion devices that do not are covered in Why isn’t it listed?.

So every robot on this page does other work too, and companionship is one of its jobs rather than its whole purpose.

Why it is hard for a robot, and what this site can say about it

Conversation is only part of company. The physical side (playing a board game, building with blocks, turning to face someone, moving around a child) needs the same perception and handling as any other chore, and is where a robot differs from a speaker or a screen.

How good a robot is as company is not something this site can judge from published material. The claims below say what each robot is described as doing, not how well it does it.

What the state of the art actually is

The claims below are graded on three levels, the same ones used on every robot page:

• Shipped: the vendor says customers are using the robot for this.
• Demonstrated: shown in video, at an event or to the press, but not established in customers’ homes.
• Claimed: stated, but not yet shown.

Which robots attempt it

On sale in mainland China only

• Futuring 2 (Futuring Robot): the vendor says it plays chess, riddles, ring-toss and basketball-style games and block-building with children, and helps schedule homework (shipped), and runs an evening routine including yoga companionship and entertaining children (shipped). It is also described as helping children with reading, drawing and English conversation practice (demonstrated), and as playing music for, conversing with and providing physical support to older users standing up (demonstrated). This site records those claims; it does not give advice on care for older people or children.
• GR-3 (Fourier Intelligence): Fourier presents GR-3 as a care and companionship robot. It is described as providing daily companionship and casual conversation, engaging people through facial expressions, eye movement and touch sensing across its body, and playing chess against a person while watching the board. All demonstrated. Orders opened in mainland China in September 2025; that it is on sale there rests on the vendor’s word, and no price has been published.

What a buyer should realistically expect today

Outside mainland China, there is nothing on this list to buy. If companionship is the main thing you are looking for, most of the products you will find are companion devices without arms, which this site does not cover. See Why isn’t it listed? for the best-known examples.