Canines are wonderful animals to have as a pet. They’re extraordinarily loyal and supply us unconditional love and emotional assist, creating a powerful connection that may positively impression individuals’s day by day lives. Nevertheless, individuals who undergo from Alzhemeier’s illness (the most typical type of dementia) or different cognitive impairments can’t realistically personal canine, as they can not safely look after them or assist their day by day wants. Enter Tombot, a robotic animal and digital well being options firm that not too long ago showcased newly enhanced cosmetics for its flagship product Jennie, a lifelike robotic Labrador pet designed to revolutionize emotional assist and psychological well being care for people with dementia, gentle cognitive impairment, autism, anxiousness, PTSD, and different well being challenges.
WHO IS TOMBOT?
Tombot, Inc. is a robotic animal and digital well being options firm based mostly in Santa Clarita, California that makes a speciality of growing robotic animals that remodel the day by day life of people, households, and communities dealing with well being adversities. The corporate was based again in 2017 by Tom Stevens after his mom’s Alzheimer’s dementia progressed to the purpose the place she may now not safely look after her canine.
Tombot’s official brand
Along with Stevens, the Tombot management crew contains Co-Founder and Chief Expertise Officer, Hank Schorz, and Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer, Jesse Schorz. Earlier than launching the corporate, Tombot’s management constructed a previous startup into one of many world’s largest litigation automation firms. They efficiently exited that enterprise by way of acquisition in 2011.
Tombot’s first product, known as “Jennie” is a lifelike robotic Labrador pet created to carry consolation and emotional assist to the 300+ million seniors worldwide battling dementia or gentle cognitive impairment, in addition to people dealing with psychological well being challenges together with anxiousness, loneliness, autism, despair, PTSD, and stress. Exceptionally lifelike and absolutely autonomous, Jennie mimics the actions and responses of an 8-10 week-old pet, offering the companionship and well being advantages of an actual pet to those that can’t safely look after or assist a residing animal.
Tombot Jennie robotic pet companion
Tombot’s mission is to create the primary reasonably priced, FDA-regulated robotic pet— offering psychological and bodily well being advantages whereas lowering the necessity for psychotropic medicines and bettering total high quality of life. By serving households, caregivers, and healthcare suppliers throughout home-help, scientific, and long-term care settings, Jennie is setting a brand new commonplace in secure, interactive companionship and well being monitoring.
The corporate’s aim is for Jennie to be the primary robotic pet acknowledged each as an FDA medical machine and distant security and well being monitoring platform.
Tombot’s Jennie robotic animal companion was initially unveiled ultimately 12 months’s CES 2025. On this 12 months’s CES 2026, the corporate unveiled the ultimate manufacturing cosmetics for Jennie. Designed in collaboration with Jim Henson’s Creature Store, Jennie’s enhanced look will now be much more real trying, serving to to strengthen the emotional bond formation it goals to offer to seniors with dementia.
At CES 2026, the Tombot sales space replicated a cushty front room atmosphere with the aim of offering genuine, on a regular basis interactions between Jennie and senior residents. These demonstrations aimed to focus on how Jennie can promote day by day consolation and reduction for people struggling cognitive decline or continual loneliness.
Tombot Jennie’s new enhanced look unveiled at CES 2026
Throughout CES 2026, we had the chance to interview Tombot’s co-founder and CEO, Tom Stevens, who talked about that “We launched Tombot to be in service to individuals who undergo from dementia or gentle cognitive impairment. Our first product, Jennie, is particularly designed for seniors with dementia, who are suffering from behavioral and psychological signs, loneliness, anxiousness, despair, delirium, and even hallucinations and violent anger, prefer it was my mom’s case. To handle these signs, docs traditionally have relied upon psychotropic medicines, together with antipsychotic, anti-anxiety, and antidepressant medicines, that are significantly exhausting on the aged.”
Tombot’s co-founder and CEO, Tom Stevens
Stevens then defined “Dozens of peer-reviewed research thus far present that the place a senior with dementia can type an emotional attachment to an object—historically a human child doll or a stuffed animal—that very same senior will get a substantial amount of reduction from these behavioral and psychological signs, and likewise a corresponding discount in want for psychotropics. Nevertheless, most seniors identified with dementia don’t actually look after these conventional objects. Analysis on robotic animals present these gadgets considerably outperform stated conventional objects and have the additional benefit of lowering ache and the necessity for ache medicines.”
Stevens ended by noting that “The primary downside with such options is that they’re both easy youngsters’s toys, which have been rebranded for seniors, or they’re prohibitively costly robots, which people with dementia can’t afford and most senior care services can also’t justify that expense. And so, it was our mission to develop a greater emotional attachment object; one which constantly stimulates enduring emotional attachment, however can be accessible at a value that many individuals can truly afford. To attain this, not solely did we conduct formal analysis with over 700 seniors with dementia, however we additionally centered on having an efficient answer that additionally delivers realism. And that’s how Jennie was born.”
WHAT IS TOMBOT’S JENNIE?
Tombot’s Jennie is a fully-interactive, lifelike robotic Labrador pet created to carry consolation and emotional assist to seniors battling dementia or gentle cognitive impairment, in addition to people dealing with psychological well being challenges together with anxiousness, loneliness, autism, despair, PTSD, and stress. Jennie is designed to seamlessly match into a wide range of settings, together with house, hospitals, assisted residing and reminiscence care communities.
Tombot Jennie
At its core, Jennie integrates an array of interactive contact sensors throughout its physique, which permit her (i.e. the robotic) to react to the person based mostly on the situation and depth she is being touched, inflicting it to provide puppy-like reactions that improve emotional connections with it.
What’s extra is that Jennie additionally options voice activation software program, which permits it to react to a person’s voice instructions. For instance, for those who inform Jennie to “communicate,” she’s going to bark for you. Jennie can reproduce actual pet sounds based mostly on the recordings from a 12 week-old Labrador pet, making it your sound similar to an actual pet whereas offering auditory consolation to the person.
Tombot Jennie
Jennie is powered by a built-in rechargeable battery. Because of that, you may recharge it by plugging it right into a wall outlet in a single day, and it ought to final all day.
Tombot’s Jennie additionally works along with the Tombot app, which permits customers to call their pet with a reputation of their liking, customise its performance, and observe person interactions on a day-to-day foundation.
As the corporate continues to enhance the expertise behind its robotic animal options, so will every individual’s robotic animal companion develop with it. Over time, Tombot will add new actions and instructions that may be simply up to date by way of its smartphone app.
WHAT ARE TOMBOT’s FUTURE PLANS FOR ITS JENNIE ROBOTIC PUPPY COMPANION?
With greater than 18,000 pre-order and waitlist clients, Jennie has already gained international recognition for advancing robotic options that assist emotional well-being.
Tombot has at present offered out its first litter of its Jennie robotic pet companions. In the event you’re fascinated with buying it, know you may be part of a waitlist by way of the corporate’s official web site. As soon as Tombot is near delivery out their pre-ordered items, they’ll contact costumers with particulars on pricing and availability.
For extra data on Tombot and its Jennie robotic emotional assist animal, go to Tombot’s web site.
