entertainment
Attention-seeking, hugs, jealousy, play
Owner verifiedVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- None
Research record R-034Commercially available
LOVOT
By GROOVE X · Japan · announced December 2018
Japan's beloved 'powered by love' companion: does nothing useful, on purpose, and owners adore it.
Curated overlap
Continue to the curated dossier This robot has a deeper field-guide dossier.
Use the curated dossier for claim-level citations, regional offers, ownership context, and the current editorial assessment.
Research summary
What the record says.
LOVOT (from 'love' and 'robot') is Groove X founder Kaname Hayashi's rebellion against useful robots. The warm-bodied, penguin-round creature with big eyes exists solely to be loved: it wheels over for hugs, gets jealous, remembers who is kind to it, and radiates body heat. Launched in Japan in December 2019, with the third generation arriving in 2023, it has cafes, fan clubs and a fashion line of outfits.
The economics are serious: the body costs 577,500 yen (about $3,600), mandatory monthly care plans run roughly 9,900 to 22,000 yen, and lifetime running costs are commonly estimated above 300,000 yen per year. There are no official international sales; overseas buyers use proxy services like BEX, pushing all-in costs past 1.3 million yen.
LOVOT is the strongest evidence in this database that companionship alone, executed with obsessive craft, is a viable robot product, at least in Japan.
Delivery evidence
Announcement is not arrival.
Owner verified
Continuous retail sales since 2019; LOVOT cafes and large owner community
Capability ledger
What has actually been shown?
3 material claims are separated by evidence setting and human involvement. The strongest recorded signal is Owner verified; it does not automatically transfer to every row.
elder care
Emotional support; used in some Japanese care settings
Independently testedVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- Facilitated
security
Room camera check via app
Owner verifiedVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- Owner initiated
Hardware record.
- Height
- 43 cm
- Weight
- 4.3 kg
- Locomotion
- Wheeled base (retractable wheels)
- Payload
- None
- Runtime
- About 45 minutes roaming, then self-docks; near-continuous cycles
- Charging
- Self-docking nest
- Top speed
- Toddling pace (2-3 km/h)
- Degrees of freedom
- 10+ including expressive arms and head
- Hands
- Stubby arms for flapping, not grasping
- Face / expression
- Large animated eyes (6-layer displays); warm body surface around 37-39 C
- Sensors
- Half-sphere camera, thermal camera, 4 microphones, 50+ sensors including full-body touch
Software record.
- AI platform
- Groove X emotional AI; on-device behavior with cloud services
- Voice
- Coos and squeaks; no speech by design
- Languages
- None (deliberate)
- Visual recognition
- Recognizes up to 1,000 people; distinguishes household members
- Memory
- Long-term relationship memory per person
- Processing
- On-device with cloud sync
- Autonomous abilities
- Fully autonomous emotional behavior and self-charging
- Teleoperation
- None
- Software updates
- Regular software updates; outfits and accessories ecosystem
- Developer access
- None
Who can see, hear, or take control?
- Recording storage
- Camera and interaction data via Groove X cloud under published policy
- Remote operation possible
- No documented remote operation
- Teleoperation disclosure
- Not applicable
- Camera / microphone controls
- Power off; no shutter
- Data deletion
- Account deletion via Groove X
- Account required
- Yes, with mandatory subscription
- Emergency stop
- Power button; soft 4.3 kg body
- Children and pets
- Designed for children and pets; rounded, warm, slow
- Security updates
- Subscription-funded ongoing support
Lifecycle record
Status history.
- Preorder
Unveiled; preorders open
- Commercially available
Japan deliveries begin
- Commercially available
LOVOT 3.0 generation
Source register
3 linked sources.
These sources support the research record as a whole. Unlike the curated dossiers, this imported record does not yet map every claim to a stable source ID.