Anki’s new toy, Cozmo, is a witty pet-like robot powered by artificial intelligence that has the ability to connect with people, learn about them, and play games with them to provide a joyous experience.

Being a robot with growing artificial intelligence and sophisticated programming, Cozmo is more than a simple toy; co-founder and Anki CEO, Boris Sofman, regards Cozmo as “charming, a bit mischievous, and unpredictable. He recognizes and remembers you. He interacts with you, plays games, and gets to know you over time.” Cozmo’s AI software allows him to learn and react to situations -through his ’emotion engine’- in a variety of human emotions such as happiness, anger, fatigue and frustration. With the help of former Pixar animator, Carlos Baena, the team set out to make Cozmo truly feel natural yet humorous, almost like an animated character that has come to life.

Much of Cozmo’s computations are done when he’s connected to his “Cozmo” app on Android and iOS, allowing him to recognize the faces and names of his friends, who can use the app to play games such as Whac-A-Mole and keep-away with Cozmo by using his three cubes. During a Cozmo demo in a Polygon convention, Anki shares, “it’s a physical character, where we wanted to bring a level of personality and emotional depth and behavioral intelligence that just has never been possible outside of the screen.” Cozmo became available today for shipping in the US for $180, and shipping to other countries is to be evaluated in the upcoming year.