REASSESSED 2026.08.06

Living.AI

EMO

Name: EMO
Brand: Living.AI

EMO autonomously explores a bounded desktop area, tracks faces and sound, and returns to its Home Station to recharge, while voice commands, games, and smart-home actions are human-initiated. Interpreting a spoken command sends a short audio clip to the manufacturer's servers.

Price$279 maker’s listNo retailer listing

Autonomy Ladder

Why Level II.

One five-rung scale, every category, from acting only on command to working unsupervised anywhere.

VGeneralized AutonomyAny task, any setting. No consumer robot has reached it.
IVEnvironmental AutonomyHandles new obstacles and re-plans in real time; rare in consumer products.
IIIConditional AutonomyFinishes whole jobs in familiar spaces; struggles at the edges.
To reach Level IIIMost sessions finish without intervention. Rescue is occasional, not routine.
IIAssisted AutonomyThis robot

EMO runs preset routines on its own, and the owner is its recovery system.
What it does on its own
- Explores a bounded desktop area and avoids edges using a time-of-flight distance sensor and optical drop sensors; tracks faces (recognizing up to 10 people, per the manufacturer) and sound direction with a 4-microphone array; displays animated expressions and reactions via an LED face; self-navigates to its magnetic Home Station to recharge; responds to a wake word followed by voice commands; offers app-triggered features including weather lookups, music playback, and smart-light control.
Why this level
- EMO explores its desktop autonomously within a self-mapped, laser-defined boundary, tracks faces and sounds, and self-navigates to its magnetic Home Station to recharge without being told to.
- A human triggers voice commands, pets its touch sensor, and starts games or smart-home actions through the app.
- Wake-word voice interpretation requires a round trip to Living.AI's servers.
What holds it at Level II
- Confined to a desktop or tabletop area; does not navigate a full room or multiple rooms. Battery life is approximately 2 hours of active use before it must return to its Home Station. The manufacturer's own product page lists some features, including long-distance interaction and additional language support, as still in development. No published numeric dimensions or weight appear on the manufacturer's current official product page.
9 sources reviewed
IManual AutomationOne action on command; no independent operation.

How we assign a level →

Behind the classification

Sources we reviewed.

Verified9 sources reviewed

Sufficient public evidence across source types to publish a non-provisional classification.

Sources reviewed

Manufacturer documentation2 sourcesOngoing

Living.AI product page, store lineup, and privacy notice for EMO

1 sourceReviewed

User-measured physical dimensions discussed on Living.AI's official user forum

EMO Dimensions SizeLivingAI Forums

Longitudinal signal2 sourcesReviewed

Robovations dated log for this robot: 3 tracked entries spanning ~29 months.

Monitoring record6 sourcesReviewed

Sources behind the tracker entries following this robot.

How we evaluate evidence →

Robovations Score

Why there is no number

Out of scope

The Robovations Score measures a shipping consumer product. This record is not one, so no number is published for it.

Why

The Robovations Score v4 measures cleaning-task capability, dependability and upkeep burden; a companion robot performs no task of that kind, so its inputs are not defined.

Reported, not scoredneither measures how well the robot works

Data postureCloud-linked

Account required. Maps and telemetry leave the home; core function survives an outage.

What leaves the homeDocumented

EMO's HD camera performs face recognition (up to 10 people, per the manufacturer), and its photos remain stored on the robot unless a user chooses to send them to the companion app, per the manufacturer and its user community. Its 4-microphone array listens for the wake word 'EMO'; after detection, a roughly 10-second audio clip is sent to Living.AI's servers for interpretation and returned as anonymized text, per community-documented behavior. Living.AI's published privacy notice is broad rather than EMO-specific and does not clearly enumerate camera or voice data handling; it does commit to a 90-day data retention limit for the purposes it states.

On-device processingNo

Read the full methodology →

FIT CHECK

Will the EMO fit your application?

Describe your use case using the controls. Each choice reads the spec sheet for you, flagging where the EMO is built for your space and where it isn’t.

Primary use case

Where it operates

Operator skill

Power setup

A classification of fit for the conditions you set, not a recommendation. Verdicts describe engineering design intent, not test results.

SPECIFICATION

The full spec sheet.

Priced below the category median, with every figure charted against the category below.

Dimensional drawing

Key specificationsManufacturer-published

Footprint: 3.7 × 2.6 in · 4.6 in tall
Weight: 0.54 lbs

Where it lands · ranked across 36 specialty robotsThis robotMedianTypical range

Runtime120min

30 min960 min

Near median

Price$279

$29$100,000

Bottom of range

Weight0.54lbs

0.09 lbs146+ lbs

Bottom of range

Position shows where the figure sits across the tracked category, not a quality judgment.

Official referencesOwner manual Manufacturer support Manufacturer site

RECORD

How the assessment has moved.

Every announcement, release and reassessment behind the current classification.

Coming soon

Just launched

Active updates

Settled

Discontinued

Nov 2020 · NewsDigital Dream Labs copyright complaint forces Living.AI to pull EMO’s Kickstarter listing
Feb 2022 · NewsFederal court narrows Digital Dream Labs’ copyright claims against EMO
Apr 2023 · UpdateFirmware 2.2.0 adds ChatGPT conversation and AI portrait drawing

Common questions

What people actually ask.

5 answered

OperationDoes EMO move around a whole room?

No. The manufacturer states EMO explores a desktop area bounded by a laser-defined virtual boundary, not a full room.

OperationDoes EMO's camera send video to the cloud?

Per the manufacturer and its user community, EMO’s camera photos stay stored on the robot and are only sent to the companion app if the user chooses to send them.

CompatibilityHow does EMO respond to voice commands?

EMO listens for its wake word; after detection, it sends a short audio clip, reported at around 10 seconds, to Living.AI’s servers for interpretation, which returns as an anonymized text command.

OperationHow long does the battery last?

The manufacturer states approximately 2 hours of active use before EMO must return to its Home Station to recharge.

OperationIs EMO's personality a form of emotion?

No independent evidence supports that characterization. EMO’s behavior is sensor-triggered animation and app-scheduled reactions; there is no verified internal emotional state.

Cite / Embed

Reference the EMO classification.

Embed the Autonomy Ladder™ mark or copy the citation. The mark is served from this record rather than saved as a file, so it always shows the level we currently hold. If we reassess, it updates on your page by itself.

<a href="https://robovations.com/robots/emo/?ref=badge" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://robovations.com/badge/r/emo/seal-light" width="268" height="124" loading="lazy" alt="Autonomy Ladder classification for EMO, assessed by Robovations." /></a>

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Leave clear space equal to half the numeral tile on all sides: 32px on the seal, 22px on the standard.
The mark states a classification, not an endorsement. It may not appear beside language implying Robovations recommends, rates, or approves the product.
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The mark is live. It reflects the classification on this record as it stands. If we reassess, it changes on your page automatically. If we withdraw the classification, it stops rendering. Nothing is required from you either way.

Citation

Robovations. "EMO: Autonomy Level II (Assisted Autonomy)." Autonomy Ladder™, assessed August 2026. https://robovations.com/robots/emo/

Where to next

Three ways to keep going.

For evaluators

Compare with a peer.

See the EMO and LOVOT 3.0 side by side: autonomy level, Robovations Score, readiness, and price. Classification, not a verdict.

See the full comparison

Or compare with Dreame Cyber X, CatLink Scooper Pro Ultra, Vector 2.0.

For browsers

See every Level II.

Every robot we’ve classified at assisted autonomy. Sorted by readiness, score, and price. Filter by category, manufacturer, or release date.

Browse the database

Updated weekly with new entries and reclassifications.

EMO

Will the EMO fit your application?

The full spec sheet.

How the assessment has moved.

What people actually ask.

EMO in the analysis archive.

Companion robots and the autonomy classification problem when the task is interaction

What does a humanoid robot preorder deposit actually buy in 2026?

Are humanoid robot demos teleoperated or actually autonomous?

Other specialty robots we have classified.

LOVOT 3.0

Dreame Cyber X

CatLink Scooper Pro Ultra

Vector 2.0

Reference the EMO classification.

Three ways to keep going.

Get the next reassessment.

Compare with a peer.

See every Level II.