At CES 2025, a Chinese company, Hengbot Innovation, showcased Sirius, an AI-powered robotic dog with a sleek, tech-forward design. Its advanced AI multimodal interaction and dynamic performance impressed attendees. However, Sirius was largely overlooked in pet robot roundups, which were dominated by competitors like Mirumi, Ropet, and Samsung’s Balie. A potential reason behind this neglect could be the few design similarities it shared with Boston Dynamics’ four-legged robot, Spot. Other probable reasons could be the reneging promises that robotic manufacturers have made for years, but have failed to walk the talk.
Whatever the case, six months after CES 2025, Hengbot Innovation has finally managed to garner some limelight, this time courtesy of a Kickstarter campaign, which showcases Sirius in the spotlight. Billed as “The World’s First Customizable and Programmable Robotic Dog for Endless Fun,” this little bot stands 10 inches tall and weighs 2.2lbs. Despite the compact footprint, the robot dog doesn’t skimp on features.
As touted by the makers, the robot dog is the first fully customizable and programmable robotic dog that lets everyday consumers develop and build their unique robot from the ground up. “Whether users are teaching Sirius tricks, syncing gestures with voice commands, or uploading custom facial expressions, Sirius adapts and evolves to become a one-of-a-kind companion that moves and thinks like no other robotic dog,” the company adds.
The user can upload personalized voice packs so Sirius sounds and reacts like a custom pet. In addition, they could change facial expressions and lighting effects with full RGB control and a library of pre-set or user-uploaded animated reactions. Furthermore, one can also swap character personas and behaviors using a simple visual flow editor to give Sirius unique moods, reactions, or even roles
And as is the case with most robotic pets, Sirius sprints, turns, leaps, and even dances, thanks to the Neurocore actuator system that allows this fluidity to the robot. The robot dog is also powered by a 5 TOPS edge computing processor and a Large Language Model, which means it can do way more than just follow pre-programmed commands. You can talk to it, and it’ll understand, responding with natural conversation. Akin to Yonbo (another AI-powered home robot making waves on Kickstarter), Sirius recognizes faces, picks up on gestures, and even lets you customize its facial expressions.
On the design front, the Sirius robotic dog is crafted from sleek aviation-grade aluminum alloy, zipping around with the agility of a real pup. The robot pet is powered by a 2250mAh battery that lets the robot deliver all those moves. “The robotic dog comes with its own PD30W charger that, once hooked takes approximately 50 minutes to fully charge,” the company states. Once fully charged, the robot dog is ready for operation. “Press and hold the power button on the back of the device for 3 seconds to power it on.” For operational purposes, the robot is clad with a camera, microphone, and expandable ports for things like advanced navigation modules, plus WiFi and USB connectivity.
It’s interesting to see that Hengbot Innovation is tapping into a growing market of pet bots that, as per some analysis, could hit $18 billion by 2032. On a little downside, the Sirius robot dog hasn’t done too well with the reviewers, with some blogs even bashing it for the ‘movement’ aspect. Nevertheless, if you still like the likes of Obboto, Rick and Morty Butter Bot, Loona, and Dog-E, Sirius isn’t that bad a try. The company is asking $699 for pre-order on Kickstarter, and the delivery is estimated to begin in Fall 2025.
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