At CES 2020, one of the more well-representedgadget categories was definitely consumer robots — but none was more adorable than MarsCat, a newrobo-pet from industrial robot startup ElephantRobotics.
This robot pet is a fully autonomous companionthat can respond to touch and voice — and evenplay with toys, and it's hard not to love the thingafter spending even just a brief amount of time with it.
MarsCat's pedigree is a bit unusual, since Elephant Robotics is focused on building what'sknown as "cobots", or industrial robots that are designed to work alongside humans in settingslike factories or assembly plants.
Elephant, which was founded in 2016, already produces three lines of these collaborativerobots and has sold them to client companies around the world, including in Korea, the U.S., Germany and more.
This new product is designed for the home, however, not the factory or the lab. MarsCat is thestartup's first consumer product, but it obviously benefits immensely from the company'sexpertise and experience in their industrial robotics business. With its highly articulated legs, tail and head, it can sit up, walk, play and watch your movements, all working autonomouslywithout any additional input required.
While MarsCat provides that kind of functionality out of the box, it's also customizable andprogrammable by the user. Inside, it's powered by a Raspberry Pi, and it ships with MarsCatSDK, which is an open software development library that allows you to fully control andprogram all of the robot's functions. This makes it an interesting gadget for STEM educationand research, too.
