Small emotional robots · OEM / ODM
Eilik-style emotional desktop pets — OEM & custom development
This category is won on unit economics and charm at the same time, which is why so few products in it are good. A dot-matrix eye pair is cheap; making it express eight distinct moods with 25 by 25 pixels is an animation problem. A touch sensor is cheap; deciding what a double-tap means versus a long press is a design problem. And two units that interact sell the second unit — that is a protocol decision made early or not at all.
Who usually comes to us
Toy and gift retail brands
An impulse-price interactive product for counter and shelf, where the demo has to work in five seconds.
Collectible and series brands
Multi-packs and colour series where units react to each other, lifting units per basket.
Desk accessory and stationery
A small living object on a work desk, with no app, no account and no subscription.
Promotional gifting
Branded units at volume — custom colour and logo on existing tooling, so the unit cost stays low.
Where a cheap desktop pet is won
Expression with almost no pixels
Two 25×25 matrices cannot render a face, so the animation has to work in silhouette and timing: eye shape, spacing, blink rate, a tilt of the whole body. This is authored frame by frame, not generated.
A state machine, not a randomiser
Moods need entry conditions, dwell time and exit conditions, or the pet flickers between states and reads as malfunctioning. Random behaviour is the cheapest-looking thing a robot can do.
Two units, one conversation
Discovery, a handshake and a negotiated behaviour so one leads and one follows. Without negotiation they both react at once and the effect is noise.
The battery nobody wants to charge
At this price it is a small cell, so idle current and sleep behaviour decide the experience. A pet that dies on day two is returned, whatever the personality.
Directions to start from
Desktop Companion Robot
Your desk just got a personality
- Offline wake word
- OTA updates
- Sound-source localisation
- Head nod motor
Students & professionals
AI Talking Plush Toy
A soft friend that truly talks back
- LLM conversation
- OTA updates
- Offline wake word
- Far-field mic
Kids 3–10
Two ways to develop with us
White-label a proven pet
An existing platform with our behaviour set, your colourway, logo and packaging.
Best for: Fastest and cheapest first order.
New character, same electronics
Your shape and eye layout on the board and firmware we already run — new tooling for the shell only.
Best for: Where most brand projects land.
Custom behaviour and protocol
Your own behaviour set, sensing and multi-unit rules — including a range that interacts as a group.
Best for: For a line that needs its own mechanic.
Platforms
Bring the AI stack your market needs
Our firmware is decoupled from any single provider. Depending on where you sell, your data-residency rules and your budget, we connect the device to the right LLM, speech and IoT cloud. These are the kinds of services we have integrated.
For China
- Baidu AI Cloud Solution sales partner Cloud AI and voice services
- Mainstream Chinese LLMs Several to choose from, per project
- Speech recognition & synthesis Major speech engines
- IoT provisioning & branded app Device setup and app under your brand
- Audio / video storage & delivery Audio / video cloud for content
For global markets
- Leading overseas LLMs Chosen per market and language
- Realtime voice dialogue Realtime voice models
- Neural speech synthesis Speech recognition and natural voices
- Device connectivity & fleet management Connect and manage devices at scale
- EU / US data hosting Data kept in the region you sell in
Questions buyers ask
Are you affiliated with Eilik?
No. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or a supplier to Eilik or Energize Lab. We develop emotional desktop pets for other brands and do not reproduce protected designs or behaviour sets.
What retail price is realistic?
It depends on the eye technology and the sensor set. Tell us your shelf price and margin and we will say what is achievable — which usually means choosing between dot-matrix and a small display, and between a rechargeable cell and AAA. We quote quantity and price per project.
How do two units interact?
Short-range discovery (infrared or BLE), a handshake, then a negotiated behaviour where one leads and one follows. Negotiation is the part that matters — without it both react simultaneously and it reads as noise rather than a conversation.
Can it work without an app?
Yes, and for this category it is usually better: no onboarding, no account, no failure point. The app is optional for firmware updates and behaviour packs, and many channels ship without one.
Tell us what you want to build
The category, your market, a quantity and whether an IP is involved is plenty for a first answer. Samples available; proven products are available as OEM, custom ones as ODM. Development and sample arrangements are agreed together once we understand the project.
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