Silicone Humanoid
Realbotix has opened orders for Echo, a line of companion humanoids built around lifelike silicone skin, articulated upper body movement and an onboard conversational system that answers in more than 100 languages. The company sells two configurations directly through its own product site, and both are aimed at companionship, education and wellness work rather than factory floors. The cheaper of the two is a desktop bust.
The Echo Tabletop starts at USD 11,950 and stands 81 centimetres tall, with 17 degrees of freedom concentrated in its neck and face. Realbotix pitches the unit at classroom work, one to one tuition and personal wellness sessions, where a face that speaks and moves plausibly matters more than legs. Interesting Engineering reports that buyers choose from four characters, each with a different personality, voice and interaction style.
But the specification does not stop at the desk. The full body Echo reaches USD 59,950 and carries 39 degrees of freedom through its upper torso and arms. Realbotix offers that model as a male or a female avatar, standing about 1.8 metres for the female version and a little taller for the male.
An optional vision system, Vinci, tracks faces, gaze direction and emotional cues, and Realbotix claims it responds in under a second. The company says the machine can recognise a returning user across sessions and hold eye contact during a conversation, which is the sort of detail that separates a demo from a product. Neither claim has been checked outside Realbotix's own demonstrations.
Cloud integrations with ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini carry the dialogue, and a reply comes back in whichever language the person used. Access runs on a software subscription priced from USD 19.99 a month, with the company describing tiers rather than a single plan.
And the skin is the part Realbotix leads with. The tabletop model covers its face and neck in the company's silicone material, while the full body version extends that skin from the elbows down, through the hands and fingers. Speakers sit inside the chest cavity to carry the voice.
Deliveries begin late in 2027, and the first production run is deliberately small, with 225 tabletop units and 25 full body units on offer. A USD 199 deposit holds a place in that queue. The tabletop weighs roughly 11 kilograms and the full body machine about 40 kilograms.
Conversations sit in encrypted local storage on the machine, according to Realbotix. Some of the dialogue depends on cloud models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, so not all of the processing happens on the desk. The company has not set out how the two sides of that split are handled.
So the figures that matter for buyers in this region are the American ones. Realbotix has published no pricing or availability for Asia, and no regional partner has been named, which leaves a school in Singapore or a clinic in Tokyo working from the USD numbers above plus the cost of getting the machine there. The pitch is global, but the sale is not.
The Echo Tabletop starts at USD 11,950, stands 81 centimetres tall and offers 17 degrees of freedom across neck and face
The full body Echo costs USD 59,950 and carries 39 degrees of freedom through torso and arms
Optional Vinci vision tracks faces, gaze and emotional cues, with Realbotix claiming under a second response
Dialogue runs through ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini on a subscription from USD 19.99 a month
First deliveries are due late in 2027, capped at 225 tabletop and 25 full body units
Source: Realbotix
