elder care
Emotional support for dementia patients
Extensive user testing with seniors; FDA pathway pursued but not granted
Real-world demoVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- None
Research record R-031Preorder
Jennie
By Tombot · United States · announced March 2019
A hyper-realistic robotic Labrador puppy for dementia care, with 23,000 preorders and first deliveries promised for fall 2026.
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.
Jennie is a robotic Labrador retriever puppy designed by Tombot founder Tom Stevens after his mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis forced her to give up her dog, with animatronics by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. She responds to touch and voice commands with lifelike movement and puppy sounds, and is aimed at older adults with dementia, for whom live animals are often impractical.
The product has been one of the longest-running preorders in robotics: announced in 2019, repeatedly delayed through engineering and funding rounds, with the waitlist growing to more than 23,000 by mid-2026. At CES 2026 Tombot showed final production cosmetics at a price around $1,500, and a $7 million Series A3 in June 2026 funds the manufacturing ramp toward first customer shipments in fall 2026.
Tombot is pursuing FDA recognition of Jennie as a medical device, which would allow prescription and reimbursement pathways; no clearance has been granted yet.
Delivery evidence
Announcement is not arrival.
Manufacturer claim
None yet; first production batch sold out on the waitlist
Capability ledger
What has actually been shown?
2 material claims are separated by evidence setting and human involvement. The strongest recorded signal is Real-world demo; it does not automatically transfer to every row.
entertainment
Lifelike puppy companionship
Real-world demoVerified July 2026
- Control mode
- Autonomous
- Human intervention
- None
Hardware record.
- Height
- 25 cm
- Weight
- 2.5 kg
- Locomotion
- Stationary lap robot; moves head, ears, tail and body
- Payload
- None
- Runtime
- All-day use with charging between sessions (claimed)
- Charging
- USB charging
- Top speed
- Not applicable
- Degrees of freedom
- 10 (motor count per company materials)
- Hands
- None
- Face / expression
- Realistic puppy face with expressive ears and eyes
- Sensors
- Touch sensors across body, microphones for voice commands
Software record.
- AI platform
- Embedded behavior engine; voice-command recognition
- Voice
- Puppy vocalizations; responds to spoken commands
- Languages
- English commands
- Visual recognition
- None
- Memory
- Behavioral preferences
- Processing
- On-device; companion app
- Autonomous abilities
- Fully autonomous behaviors
- Teleoperation
- None
- Software updates
- App-delivered firmware updates
- Developer access
- None
Who can see, hear, or take control?
- Recording storage
- No camera; voice processed on device (company statements)
- Remote operation possible
- No documented remote operation
- Teleoperation disclosure
- Not applicable
- Camera / microphone controls
- Power off
- Data deletion
- Minimal data collected
- Account required
- App account for updates
- Emergency stop
- Not applicable; soft lap robot
- Children and pets
- Designed for vulnerable users
- Security updates
- App-based updates
Lifecycle record
Status history.
- Preorder
Kickstarter and waitlist open
- Preorder
Final production design at CES 2026; 18,000+ preorders
- Preorder
$7M Series A3; 23,000+ waitlist; fall 2026 shipping target
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.