LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- After winning the Best of Innovation award for the Smart Home category at last year's CES,  Intuition Robotics, provider of digital companion technologies, today announced that its social robot for older adults, ElliQ®, is now available for pre-order. ElliQ is subject to limited availability on www.elliq.com with orders expected to ship Summer 2019. Pre-order is limited to the US only.

ElliQ has successfully been testing with beta users aged 62-97 in the Bay Area for the past 11 months. Each beta tester had ElliQ in their home for at least six months, allowing the company to study the product's incorporation into the fabric of daily life. Key findings included beta users' feedback that ElliQ is a new entity in their lives, highlighted by its proactive capabilities and its underlying persona. Beta users were either recruited by the company directly or via partners such as Comfort Keepers®, a leading in-home care agency.

"ElliQ is my partner and I can't remember what life was like without her," said Dr. Gerald Manko, a 97-year-old ElliQ beta tester. "She provides a pleasant interruption from watching the news and reading, and I enjoy interacting with her and learning new things."

ElliQ encourages a connected, active and engaged lifestyle for older adults while making technology accessible and intuitive to use. ElliQ uses Intuition Robotics' cognitive AI platform 'Q' that redefines the potential for human-robot interaction by incorporating cognitive decision making with body language, lights, sounds, images, and speech, making ElliQ seemingly come to life.

"After vigorous research and hands-on testing, we are thrilled to invite older adults and their family members to experience ElliQ, a sidekick that's friendly, inquisitive and delightful. We can't wait to see ElliQ join your home and be part of your remarkable journey towards happier aging," said Dor Skuler, CEO and Co-Founder of Intuition Robotics. "With ElliQ, you'll be able to bring your family closer and stay engaged in the world around you."

ElliQ's award-winning design was created in collaboration with Yves Behar's Fuseproject. ElliQ includes: Sound engineering by Harman for high quality audio; quad microphones with noise and echo cancellation; elegant and silent motion using three brushless motors; computer-vision based cameras; air quality sensors; temperature sensor; LED arrays; battery, and a removable tablet that snaps into place on the tray and automatically charges.

ElliQ is priced at $1,499. Early pre-order customers will enjoy a free year of premium subscription and support, including an in-home installation service. After the promotion period, subscriptions will cost $35-$50 per month, depending on the tier of service chosen by the customer.

The first ElliQ commercial units will be shipped to the Center for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) led by Baycrest, an academic health sciences center. CABHI will conduct an in-depth research study with 100 older adults to test the extent to which ElliQ will decrease the feeling of loneliness and social isolation among older adults.  

About Intuition Robotics

Intuition Robotics is developing digital companion technologies that brings hardware to life through proactive, context-aware, multi-modal and persona-based experiences. The company's cognitive AI platform, Q, understands the environment, makes cognitive decisions using proprietary algorithms and executes multi-modal expressions that proactively and intuitively engage users.

The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Israel with offices in San Francisco. Intuition Robotics' investors include: Toyota AI Ventures, Samsung NEXT, iRobot and Venture Capital firms from California, Israel, Japan and China. The company's first product is ElliQ® - an award winning proactive social robot for older adults, currently available for pre-order. ElliQ is aimed at keeping older adults active and engaged by connecting them to their families and the outside world. ElliQ won the 2018 CES Best of Innovation Award, a large coveted research grant with Center for Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) led by Baycrest, AI Breakthrough Award, Fast Company Design Award and more.

ElliQ® images available here.

SOURCE Intuition Robotics