Aging at homeRobotic cats and dogs

Robotic companion pets

Name: Robotic companion pets
Brand: Ageless Innovation (Joy for All)

Soft robotic cats and dogs that make lifelike sounds and movements. State aging offices give them to lonely or isolated older adults, and care homes use them with people with dementia. NY State Office for the Aging, Animatronic Pet Initiative page

Stage 5 of 5

Regulator-cleared or mass market

Which rule placed it

Evidence: Company-reported only
Human help: None reported
Last milestone: 30 June 2024

01Can I get it?

Yes, in places

Where it works today: Sold to the public; New York's state aging office has handed them out free to socially isolated older adults since 2018, and says other states have copied the program. NY State Office for the Aging, Animatronic Pet Initiative page
Published price: No published price in our sources.
Human help: Our sources report it working without human help.

02Track record

What has actually happened

Every milestone is dated and links to the page it comes from. Lines marked company-reported rest on the maker's own word.

03Safety and incidents

What has gone wrong

No crashes, recalls or regulator reports in our sources. That is not proof none happened; we add them when a regulator or trusted outlet reports one.

In clinical trials

8 registered trials

3 looking for volunteers. From ClinicalTrials.gov, read every day.

How we placed it

The rule, not an opinion

Stages are worked out by published rules from the dated milestones above. We never rate robots, and no maker can pay to change a stage.

5
Regulator-cleared or mass marketThis robot
A regulator has cleared it where approval applies: FDA clearance or approval for a medical robot, a permit to run with no one aboard for a self-driving vehicle, or an FAA approval for routine drone flights. Or: Widely sold: sales in the hundreds of thousands, or a product category you can buy in ordinary shops.
Placed by: Ageless Innovation said it had delivered its 500,000th Joy for All pet (3 Nov 2022).
4
Paying customers
Delivered to customers who pay for it, beyond a trial, or a paid service the public can use.
3
Pilot
Working with a named customer in a real setting, as a trial.
2
Pre-orders
Orders, reservations or deposits taken, with nothing delivered yet.
1
Demo only
Shown in videos, staged events or a factory, with no units working for customers.

What we couldn't confirm. The maker's site lists the cat at $159.99 (Oct 2026), but no quotable passage of usable length was found, so price is left empty. NYSOFA says the program has been copied in over 30 states; no list of those states was confirmed. The 500,000-unit count is the company's own figure.

Sources

Cite this page

Robotics Verdict. “Robotic companion pets (Ageless Innovation (Joy for All)): how far has it got?” roboticsverdict.com/robots/robotic-companion-pets. Checked 19 October 2026.