This six-legged lamp might help your kid with their homework

Unlike some of the robots we’ve seen at CES 2025, Mi-Mo doesn’t have a face, but it still looks a little familiar thanks to its resemblance to the iconic Pixar lamp. Mi-Mo is still just a prototype, but there are some interesting ideas behind the unusual-looking robot walking around the show floor.

The creation of Japanese firm Jizai, the company describes it as a “general purpose AI robot” that “thinks and acts” on its own. It has a built-in camera and microphones, which allows it to move around and respond to voice prompts and commands. It runs on multiple large language models that enable its voice and image recognition capabilities.

When we saw it, Mi-Mo didn’t show many signs of being autonomous. It mostly shimmied around the show floor and “waved” at people passing by, which was honestly kind of cute. Jizai’s Yuji Oshima told me that the company envisions it as being useful for some childcare tasks, like reminding children to do their homework and then watching over them to make sure they actually complete it. (Jizai’s website notes the company is also interested in using robotics for elder care.)

But Mi-Mo wasn’t created only to be a caretaker robot. Oshima said it’s meant to be an open platform for developers, researchers and others to find their own ways to use the robot. Jizai also intends for it to be somewhat modular so people can customize Mi-Mo with bespoke software, additional sensors or other hardware attachments.

Jizai plans to make Mi-Mo available as a developer kit later this year and has opened a waitlist where interested parties can sign up for updates.