New Friendly Humanoid Robot Sprout Aims to Change Minds About Home Robots

Fauna Robotics unveils a 3.5-foot tall, approachable robot designed to spark a new era of home-friendly humanoids.

Jan. 27, 2026 at 10:47am

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

Fauna Robotics has unveiled a new humanoid robot called Sprout, designed to be approachable and friendly for home and social settings. Unlike sleek and powerful-looking robots from companies like Tesla, Sprout has a soft, padded exterior and emotive expressions to appeal to a wide audience, including children. Sprout is being positioned as a developer platform to inspire a new wave of home-friendly robots, rather than an industrial robot for factories. The $50,000 robot is already drawing interest from early customers like Disney and Boston Dynamics.

Why it matters

Sprout represents a shift in the robotics industry away from intimidating, industrial-looking humanoids and towards more approachable, human-centric designs. If successful, Sprout could help pave the way for a new generation of robots that are welcomed into homes, schools, and social spaces rather than confined to factories and warehouses.

The details

Sprout stands 3.5 feet tall, with a soft, padded exterior in a sage-green color. It can perform simple tasks like dancing, grabbing objects, and navigating around obstacles. Fauna Robotics developed Sprout over two years of secret research and development, aiming to create a robot that feels more like a "buddy" or "pal" than an intimidating machine. The company believes Sprout is the first American-made humanoid robot being actively shipped as a developer platform, allowing robotics enthusiasts and researchers to experiment with the technology.

  • Fauna Robotics unveiled Sprout to the public on January 27, 2026.

The players

Fauna Robotics

A stealth startup that has developed Sprout, a new approachable humanoid robot designed as a developer platform for robotics enthusiasts and researchers.

Rob Cochran

The co-founder and CEO of Fauna Robotics, who believes Sprout can help spark a new era of home-friendly humanoid robots.

Josh Merel

The co-founder and chief technology officer of Fauna Robotics, an expert in robot locomotion who previously worked at Google's DeepMind.

Anthony Moschella

The vice president of hardware at Fauna Robotics, who helped design the approachable aesthetic of Sprout based on abstract Star Wars robot designs.

Ana Pervan

A research scientist at Fauna Robotics who works on Sprout's mapping and navigation, and is a fan of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“You take it out of the box and you can start walking it around immediately. Seeing their robot for the first time really lets you see the future a little bit. And if you squint, you can see how a robot like that would be welcomed into people's homes.”

— Marc Theermann, Chief Strategy Officer

“It's cute, and it's not too humanoid, and I think that actually makes it a lot more fun. It's not verging on creepy or trying to be too human. It's like your buddy, your pal, that's a different thing than you.”

— Ana Pervan, Research Scientist

What’s next

Fauna Robotics plans to continue shipping the first batch of Sprout robots to early customers, including Disney and Boston Dynamics, as it works to expand the developer platform and inspire new applications for approachable humanoid robots.

The takeaway

Sprout represents a shift in the robotics industry towards more human-centric designs that could make humanoid robots more welcome in homes, schools, and social spaces. By focusing on approachability and creating a developer platform, Fauna Robotics hopes to spark a new era of friendly robots that can integrate seamlessly into people's everyday lives.