Top 8 Social & Companion Humanoid Robots with Conversational Emotional AI for 2026-2027

Ameca is the clearest reference for social humanoid design because it was built for interaction, not for work. Its face reads emotion in real time, mirroring a smile or reacting with surprise, which is what makes a conversation feel two-sided. Engineered Arts added Ami, a smaller desktop companion, alongside the third-generation Ameca in 2025, bringing the same expressive approach to a home-sized unit. Exhibitors, museums and researchers use Ameca for face-to-face contact with the public. It cannot walk, so it works from a fixed stand.

Furhat is a social robot that is only a head. Its face is light projected from inside a mask, so a single unit can take on different characters. It watches through a 3.4 MP camera with a 120° view and listens through two microphones, with speech recognition in more than 40 languages. The 3.5 kg unit plugs into the wall. Furhat Robotics spun out of KTH in Stockholm in 2014 and raised a $2.5 million seed round in September 2017. Education and therapy research are typical uses.

ARI is PAL Robotics' social robot, added to its lineup in 2019 as an interactive 1.65 m service robot for customer-facing work. It weighs 60 kg, travels at up to 5.4 km/h on wheels and runs 8 to 12 hours per charge, long enough for a full day on a front desk. RGB, stereo, depth and fisheye cameras and a LiDAR cover perception. It talks with visitors, shows information on its screen and moves around a reception area without needing legs.

NEO is the home companion on this list. It is built for chores, fetching and everyday help, but the harder test is whether people feel comfortable living with it. 1X gave it a soft knit suit and quiet tendon-driven joints so it feels less like a machine. It can chat and answer questions while it works, and four beamforming microphones help it follow a conversation across a room. At about 30 kg, it is light enough that a family can relax around it.

Grace is a care-focused humanoid, presented in August 2021 by Hanson Robotics and Awakening Health. A thermal camera in her chest takes a person's temperature from a distance. Her lifelike face and expressive eyes are meant to build trust with elderly and hospital patients, and she has 28 degrees of freedom. She is a calm companion for health settings, not a robot for lifting or fetching, so her value lies in conversation and presence. Hanson Robotics built her for hospitals and care homes.

Sophia is the best-known media humanoid on this list, and her strength is cultural reach. Hanson Robotics activated her on February 14, 2016. Her fame peaked in 2017, when Saudi Arabia granted her citizenship and the UN named her an Innovation Champion. She has 83 degrees of freedom, 36 of them in the head and neck, and a stereo depth camera and wide-angle camera. She is best at speaking events, interviews and exhibitions. Hanson Robotics, based in Hong Kong, built her as a platform for public talks.

Robo-C2 is Promobot's customer-facing humanoid, made for the front desk, events and promotions. Customers can order a silicone-skinned robot with a face modeled on a chosen person, and it reproduces hundreds of facial expressions. Promobot has made the Robo-C line since 2019, and the C2 version with layered skin followed in 2023. It weighs 50 kg, moves at up to 1.5 km/h and runs about eight hours on a 1 kWh battery. HD cameras handle face and object recognition. Promobot is based in Perm, Russia.

GR-3 is Fourier's care-oriented humanoid, unveiled on August 7, 2025 as the Care-bot, its first full-size companion robot. It is 165 cm tall and 71 kg, with 55 degrees of freedom and 31 pressure sensors spread across its body so it can feel contact. A four-microphone array with echo cancellation helps it listen, and visual SLAM with dynamic tracking helps it move around people. It runs about three hours per battery pack and suits hospitals and care homes. It is meant for care homes and hospitals.