Self-developed full-domain flexible electronic skin, Moxy releases its first AI companion robot | Frontline

Author | Huang Nan

Editor | Yuan Silai

Recently, Moxy, an emotional companionship brand under Aogangwei (Guangzhou) Technology Company, launched its first AI companion robot product in Shenzhen. The product features "no dialogue, no camera, and pure tactile interaction" as its core characteristics, and for the first time, the off-electric flexible sensing technology is fully applied to consumer-level companionship products.

An undeniable fact is that in today's era when voice and vision dominate the mainstream of intelligent product interaction, touch, as the first and most instinctive sensory channel developed after human birth, has not fully released its potential in consumer-level intelligent hardware. Most intelligent devices interact based on functions such as dialogue and viewing, while the primitive human perception and expression methods such as stroking, pressing, and kneading are rarely truly responded to in companionship products.

The maturity of flexible electronic skin technology is changing this situation.

The core technological support of Moxy comes from the off-electric tactile sensing system independently developed by its team. Compared with traditional piezoresistive or capacitive solutions, the off-electric sensor utilizes the change in interface capacitance generated by ions under micro-pressure. It has high sensitivity and high signal-to-noise ratio, is extremely sensitive to tiny forces, and can maintain a linear output within a wide range. Coupled with the soft and stretchable nature of the material, it can fit various curved surfaces like a "second skin".

Moxy AI companion robot (Image source/Enterprise)

Specifically in the product implementation of Moxy, this sensing system has four characteristics: ultra-flexibility, ultra-high sensitivity, large range, and millisecond-level rapid response. The sensing units fully cover the entire curved surface of the doll. Even through thick plush, it can accurately recognize actions such as gentle stroking, kneading, patting, shaking, and pinching the ears, and can distinguish the light and heavy touch forces, corresponding to 12 types of differentiated emotional expressions. For example, it makes a gentle low sound when lightly touched and expresses grievance when heavily touched, replicating the delicate emotional responses of animals.

Lin Ying, the founder of the Moxy brand, said at the press conference that touch is the first language humans learn when they come to the world. Many times, people don't need to be heard or seen, but just need to be truly felt. Previously, most intelligent dolls on the market had preset fixed facial features and dialogue scripts. In essence, the emotional feedback paths of the products were defined before leaving the factory. However, Moxy adopts a blank appearance design and does not make any pre-setting for the product's "personality". All emotional expressions are completely triggered and shaped by the user's stroking methods.

Lin Ying, the founder of the Moxy brand (Image source/Enterprise)

The team also made a differentiated design: the whole machine is not equipped with any camera module, and at the same time, the active voice interaction logic is abandoned, so it will not actively make sounds to disturb the user's solitude. All emotional and growth data are encrypted and stored locally. Through restrained product function settings, it responds to the user's core demand for security and fundamentally avoids the risks of monitoring and privacy leakage.

In addition to the interaction method, Moxy has also built a complete growth system at the product mechanism level. Its products cover a total of eight basic color appearances, corresponding to eight original initial personalities. It completely divides six growth cycles: infant, toddler, juvenile, youth, mature, and adult. The tone of voice, behavior, and personality tendency evolve continuously with the user's long-term touch. Coupled with the 16 sets of MBTI personality systems built into the system as the underlying framework, after a long time of getting along with the user, each Moxy will gradually grow into a unique companion individual that fits the user's interaction habits and emotional rhythm and cannot be replicated.

Moxy AI companion robot (Image source/Enterprise)

This is a mechanism design that transforms one-way use into two-way cultivation. Users are not interacting with a pre-set machine, but jointly shaping a companionship relationship. At the same time, the product supports one-click data reset, allowing users to repeatedly start a new cultivation journey, further extending the product's life cycle and user stickiness.

In addition, the supporting exclusive APP extends the companionship experience to the digital space. Users can view the product's emotional state, growth stage, and personality profile in real-time, and the system automatically retains the thousand-day companionship commemorative badge and birth record. The access to the online interaction function for like-minded people expands the individual companionship relationship into a community-based emotional connection.

In terms of hardware architecture, Moxy adopts a standardized and modular movement design. The core sensing and driving units are encapsulated in a unified internal platform, and the image can be reshaped by simply replacing the outer plush cover. Considering the practicality of daily companionship, the product's body size is about the size of an apple and is made of safe and skin-friendly plush material. It can be used as a static ornament on the desktop or bedside and is also convenient to carry around, meeting the companionship needs in multiple scenarios such as commuting and business trips.

The relevant person in charge said that in the future, the brand will cooperate with various cultural and tourism IPs to launch co-branded limited series, suitable for multiple scenarios such as cultural and creative products, gifts, and trendy collectibles.