Human-aware robots

Robots that understand people.

BeEmotion gives robots a human-aware sense, reading faces, expression and attention in real time, on-device. It powers Panasonic's NICOBO, a companion robot designed to be lived with, not commanded.

Panasonic's NICOBO companion robot resting on a table in a bright living room.

The problem

Robots are getting capable at tasks and still poor at people. A robot that can navigate a room but can't tell whether a person is confused, distressed or engaged will always feel mechanical and, in shared spaces, can be unsafe. The missing layer is the ability to perceive and interpret human state.

Where it matters

Social & companion. Recognise and respond to the people a robot lives with: the human-aware layer behind companion robots like Panasonic's NICOBO.

Service & hospitality. Read attention and intent to time interactions and hand-offs.

Healthcare & assistive. Sense distress, pain cues or disengagement, including with communication barriers.

Cobots & industrial. Factor human attention and proximity into safe, responsive behaviour.

Studio portrait of NICOBO, a small grey companion robot with simple eyes and a sprout-like tail. — NICOBO, Panasonic's companion robot.

A person relaxing on a sofa beside NICOBO, the companion robot. — Designed to be lived with, not commanded.

Why BeEmotion

Multimodal. Face, gaze, expression, pose, gesture and voice fused into one real-time signal.

Private and trusted. Human data interpreted locally on the device; explainable outputs, private by design.

Proven in a shipping product. Powers Panasonic's NICOBO. Its Makuake crowdfunding goal was met in six and a half hours.

Who it's for

Robot builders across social, service, healthcare and industrial platforms, from companion and social robots to service, healthcare and industrial cobots.