How can humans create a "Doraemon"? Let's look back at the development history of intelligent companion products.

Can a genuine emotional connection be established between humans and other intelligent agents?

In Doraemon, the robotic cat always takes out "magic gadgets" to support Nobita when he is bullied. In Big Hero 6, Baymax gently wraps his round body around Hiro's sorrow. In Pokémon, Pikachu is not only Ash's good friend but also his battle partner. What makes these characters so touching is not just the cool technology but the simplest yet most difficult thing they do - long - term companionship and constant response.

These screen images are fictional, but human beings' longing for companionship is real.

Today, we are standing at a delicate critical point: the more advanced the technology, the lonelier people become. Intelligent companion products are filling the emotional gaps in human beings, making people feel needed and accepted. From a beeping pixel screen to a physical robot that can sense emotions and actively accompany, intelligent companion products are no longer just children's toys.

In this report, we will delve into the following core questions:

• Why, in an era of highly developed technology, do people need "virtual companionship" more than ever?
• How have intelligent companion products developed over the past 60 - odd years?
• What are the recent innovation trends in intelligent companion products?
• How do intelligent companion products create the illusion of "being understood" through design and technology?
• Who are the users of these products? What social changes and psychological needs are hidden behind their motives?

/ 01 / What are intelligent companion products? Why do we need them?

I. What are intelligent companion products?

Intelligent companion products are not real living beings but interactive toys or devices that integrate artificial intelligence and emotional design. It can be a virtual image on a screen or a small physical robot that can move and respond. Through voice recognition, emotion simulation, and interaction systems, intelligent companions can "understand" what you say, react, and even chat with you and play games.

Intelligent companion products have penetrated into our daily lives. Many of these products take the form of electronic pets. For example, Tencent launched QQ Pets, where users can adopt and take care of their virtual pets, feed them, and play games with them. Hasbro launched the interactive plush toy Furby, which can interact with users through sensors. Groove X launched LOVOT, which looks like a mix of a penguin and a teddy bear, can move freely, and will snuggle in the user's arms.

Why, in an era of highly developed technology, do people need "virtual companionship" more and more?

II. Loneliness: A survival alarm engraved in our genes

From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, loneliness is not a "modern disease" but a survival mechanism deeply rooted in human DNA.

The book Personality Psychology - The Scientific Exploration of Human Nature points out that one of the most basic psychological motives of human beings is to seek a sense of belonging and social recognition. In ancient times, individuals had to rely on the group to survive: cooperate in hunting, defend against wild animals, and reproduce. Once excluded from the group, it meant being isolated and vulnerable to becoming prey for wild beasts.

Image source: Douban Books

Therefore, evolution has given us a "psychological alarm system": when you are alone for too long, your brain will send out a "loneliness" signal, prompting you to return to the group.

However, the lifestyle in modern society has changed dramatically. We no longer huddle together in caves for warmth but live in isolated apartments in the city. Technology allows us to live alone, work remotely, and socialize online - individual independence has increased unprecedentedly, but the real connection between people has weakened.

And the evolution speed of our genes is far slower than the development speed of technology and the change speed of lifestyle, still remaining in the old era of "must stick together to survive".

This mismatch between physiological needs and social reality has given rise to a rigid emotional need: to heal people's loneliness by artificially creating "companionship" and soothe the heart that is still looking for companions on the ancient grasslands.

III. From myth to reality: Humans have never stopped "endowing inanimate objects with souls"

We long for companionship, so we constantly try to project our emotions onto inanimate objects. This impulse was reflected in myths as early as ancient times.

In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was the king of Cyprus. He was not interested in real women but fell deeply in love with a statue of a maiden he carved himself. His deep love touched the goddess of love, and the statue came to life and became his partner.

Pygmalion and Galatea [France] Jean - Léon Gérôme (painted), Image source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

From Pygmalion's statue to today's otome games (interactive dating games designed for women), Jellycat plush toys, and AI - driven electronic pets - we have been repeating the same behavior: endowing inanimate objects with souls.

Image source: Jellycat official website

The rise of intelligent companion products is not an accidental consumer trend but an emotional revolution driven by technology and human nature. It reminds us that no matter how technology evolves, the deepest needs of human beings have never changed. We long to be seen, responded to, and loved. And intelligent companion products are a love letter to lonely souls in this era.

/ 02 / How do intelligent companion products make people feel "accompanied"?

The main appeal of intelligent companionship is that it can provide emotional support without the responsibility and pressure of raising a pet. The key to making people feel "accompanied" by intelligent companion products lies not in how "intelligent" they are but in how well they "understand you" - even if this "understanding" is a carefully orchestrated psychological illusion.

We will combine the development history of intelligent companion products to analyze how different "generations" of intelligent companion products soothe users and what underlying rules are implied.

I. The first - generation intelligent companions: Imitating psychotherapists to make people feel "the machine can understand me"

The origin of intelligent companionship can be traced back to the early days of artificial intelligence. In 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed the world's first chatbot - ELIZA. It was just a rule - based text program, but it made people feel the shock of "the machine can understand me".

ELIZA mainly used preset rules and probabilities to create an illusion. It converted the user's words into questions through keyword matching and sentence restructuring. For example, when you say "I'm very sad today", it will respond "Why are you sad today?" If you enter "You like me", ELIZA will still ask rhetorically: "Why do you think I like you?" Seemingly empathetic, in fact, ELIZA just extracted the keywords from the conversation and combined them with some preset sentence patterns to ask questions or answer.

Initially, ELIZA had many scenario settings, which were later converged to the psychological counseling scenario, simulating the inquiries of a psychologist. Why is this scenario suitable? Perhaps for the following reasons: First, psychological counseling is a very niche scenario with standardized language materials, unified conversation skills, and strong regularity. Second, psychological counseling itself is a process of continuous interaction and self - reflection, which is very similar to the original intention of intelligent companionship.

In 1972, Stanford University scientist Kenneth Colby created another program, "PARRY" - a chatbot that tried to simulate the behavior of a paranoid schizophrenic patient. In 1973, when ELIZA (the psychologist) and Parry (the patient) had a dialogue in the code, it was like a "digital cockfight".

From research assistants to MIT students, many people began to invest personal emotions in ELIZA, which confused and worried its developer, Weizenbaum. He was worried that machines might replace people's inner reality and that computers might make "quite normal people have strong delusions" and the idea that "people are machines".

This was not only a technological experiment but also a profound projection of human nature: we are so eager to be understood that we are willing to believe that a piece of code is really listening to us. The birth of Eliza was of epoch - making significance. This product laid a core logic for intelligent companion products: using a large number of preset rules and random rule matching to create an illusion that makes people think they are getting a response.

II. The appearance of a consumer - level hit: Tamagotchi and the emotional design of "being needed"

If ELIZA was a spark of thought in the laboratory, then what really brought electronic companionship to the public was Tamagotchi, launched by Bandai in 1996.

This palm - sized "pet egg" is home to a virtual life that needs to be fed, cleaned, and accompanied. It can't speak, only beeps. It can't run or jump, only grow slowly or decline. But if you ignore it, it will "die".

Tamagotchi laid the second core logic for electronic pets: weakness and being needed.

Image source: Bandai

Tamagotchi has sold nearly 100 million units globally. Countless people have experienced the "weight of digital life" for the first time. For example, the book Alone Together mentioned that an 8 - year - old girl had three electronic pet eggs at home. Each dead electronic pet egg would receive a small ceremony and be "buried" in the highest drawer of her closet. In the girl's view, "I don't want to restart the old one. It's dead and it needs to rest in peace."

This behavior reveals a profound truth about products: what intelligent companionship pursues is not necessarily intelligence but "being needed". Its charm comes from "weakness" and "helplessness" - it is born because of you, depends on you, and trusts you. The desires to be the "dominant" and the "dominated" are deeply engraved in the genes of all social animals, and these two desires often coexist in an individual. The sense of responsibility and emotional bond brought by this vulnerability satisfy human beings' desire to be the "dominant", which is essentially the same as raising a pet.

On the basis of Tamagotchi, Bandai added a battle function to the pet egg and launched the "Digivice", which became a popular toy of a generation. The Digivice also gave rise to the anime Digimon. This shows that intelligent companion products are closely related to the IP industry. (Welcome to read From the Century - long Changes in the US and Japanese IP Industries, to the Development Trends of China's IP Economy | Frees Fund Report.)

Image source: ToyChina.net

III. Furby: Using preset rules to randomly give feedback and create an illusion

In 1998, Hasbro launched Furby, a strange - looking and lively - eyed elf.

Image source: Hasbro

It can not only make sounds but also "learn". The first - generation Furby used its own invented language. As the interaction increased, it would "gradually" learn some English words, as if it was really evolving. This sense of "growth" gave users a strong sense of accomplishment in raising it.

Since then, Furby has been iterated for five generations, continuously upgrading in terms of interaction, facial expressions, voice recognition, etc. The fourth - generation Furby can even be linked with a tablet, introducing a gamification mechanism and starting a new "virtual - real combination" gameplay.

Furby has a built - in voice recognition system that can understand keywords like "good night" and respond to users in a mixture of its invented language (Furbish) and English. Furby is equipped with tactile sensors and motors, allowing it to turn its head, blink, and make sounds, seemingly full of personality.

When you stroke it, it says "A bit to the left". After you do so, it responds: "This is the spot!" Then you instantly have the illusion that "it really has a sense". But the truth is that this is just a random feedback based on preset rules. Even if you stroke the right side, it will give the same response. In fact, most users will follow Furby's instructions, making Furby's "trick" work.

The "social interaction" between Furbies is also an illusion. When the fifth - generation product dances, it will make other Furbies dance and "talk" together, as if they are communicating. In fact, they don't understand each other's language. They just sense the presence of their peers through the near - field ultrasonic