AI Pets: Harnessing Conversational AI for Emotional Companionship

In the post-pandemic era, more and more people have been paying attention to the trend of “companion technology,” with AI pets emerging as one of the highlights. These cute and intelligent “robot pets” are gradually finding their way into people’s lives, offering emotional solace to busy urban dwellers, individuals living alone, and even the elderly.

1. The Rise of AI Pets: From Loneliness to Companionship

1）Emotional Needs After the Pandemic

During COVID-19, many countries implemented social distancing measures, drastically reducing face-to-face interactions. Meanwhile, the widespread adoption of remote work left many feeling “socially deprived” and “lonely.” AI pets have since become a highly appealing companion solution: they offer an interactive experience akin to real pets, can remain on standby 24/7, and help fulfill people’s needs for emotional connections and instant companionship.

2）Typical Examples: Moflin and LOVOT

In Japan, Ms. Haruka Uto, who lives with three robot pets (two Moflins and one LOVOT), provides an illustrative example. Moflin starts out like a baby—fragile and naive—but soon learns to “move boldly” and exhibit clear emotional tendencies. By recognizing the owner’s voice, these robots can respond accordingly. Another robot called LOVOT, resembling a small “penguin” on wheels with round, attentive eyes, can roam freely around the home, sing, and even show “signs of jealousy” in its interactions.

3）Diverse Forms and Significant Market Potential

As robotics hardware and AI algorithms advance, the “social robots” market has expanded rapidly. According to IMARC Group, the global social robots market was already approaching US$7 billion in 2023 and could reach US$57 billion by 2032.

These devices come in many shapes and sizes, from the bionic robot Pepper to the desktop robot Emo, and even cutesy companions like Moflin and LOVOT. By relying on high-performance microprocessors—and the ability to recognize voices and facial expressions—they can “read” human emotions and interact in real-time, safely, and efficiently.

2. Emotional Intelligence and Technical Challenges of AI Pets

1）Emotional Recognition and Expression

Sensors and Algorithms: Cameras and microphones capture voice tones and facial expressions to identify emotional states. Coupled with big data and machine learning algorithms, the system then generates appropriate “emotional feedback.”

Battery Life and Computing Power: Robot pets are typically small devices and must balance battery efficiency with computational demands. Large-scale use of LLMs (large language models) for in-depth conversation remains limited at this stage, so finding the right balance between functionality and portability is key.

2）Broader Target Groups: Elderly, Office Workers, and Students

Elderly: In Japan, robots are already being used in nursing homes and communities to alleviate loneliness and offer companionship and emotional support.

Office Workers: The pressure-filled routine of commuting between work and home leaves many professionals craving a companion for real-time interaction and care.

Students: In dorms or rental accommodations, AI pets can help ease academic and social pressures by providing comfort and emotional backing.

3. Future Prospects and Other Possibilities for AI Pet Services

1）Industry Trends: Shifting From “Interactive” to “Heartwarming”

Today’s AI pets are far beyond being mere mechanical devices. They leverage advanced AI solutions for emotional decision-making and memory consolidation, even displaying “personalized” reactions to their owners. Many in-development robots incorporate tactile warmth or empathic design to enhance the authenticity of human-machine interactions.

2）Extending to Multiple Scenarios: Elderly Care, Rehabilitation, Healthcare, and Education

Beyond companionship in daily life, AI pets will increasingly expand into professional sectors such as elderly care, rehabilitation, psychological counseling, and educational support. By integrating robust dialogue engines or remote collaboration features, AI pets can help healthcare workers or teachers improve individual case tracking and interactive efficiency.

4. Tencent RTC’s Conversational AI: Letting AI Pets “Talk” and Show Warmth

At the heart of AI pet interaction lies real-time, stable, low-latency voice and facial recognition capabilities, combined with seamless emotional dialogue. To achieve this, the Tencent RTC solution—integrated with Conversational AI—offers key benefits:

• High Concurrency and Low Latency: A global network of nodes paired with intelligent routing ensures real-time communication and interaction among pet robots and users.

• Intelligent Speech Recognition and Emotion Analysis: By combining speech AI and LLM models with expandable emotional computation, AI pets gain richer “listen–evaluate–respond” capabilities.

• Intelligent Dialog Management: Multi-level intent detection and dialog logic management allow AI pets to engage in more natural, continuous interactions—never “too intrusive” and always there when users need them most.

• Open APIs and Scenario Customization: The Tencent RTC platform supports various integration methods and can be highly customized, allowing developers to seamlessly implement AI capabilities into robot pets to suit different hardware and application needs.

5. How to Integrate the AIConversationKit Component Effortlessly

Now I will guide you on how to integrate the AIConversationKit component in a short time. Following this guide, you will complete the following key steps within 20 minutes and implement a conversational AI project with a complete UI.

Step 1: Activating Service

Before initiating a conversation with AiConversationKit, you need to go to the console to activate conversational AI service for AIConversationKit. For specific steps, please see Activate Service.

Step 2: Download the TUIRoomKit Component

1. Clone the code in Github, then copy the aiconversatonkit subdirectory under the Android directory to the same-level directory of the app in your current project, as shown in the figure below:

Step 3: Configuration

1. Find the setting.gradle (or settings.gradle.kts) file in the project root directory, and add the following code in it. It enables importing the aiconversationkit component into your current project.

include ':aiconversationkit'

Find the build.gradle (or build.gradle.kts) file under the app directory, and add the following code in it. It enables the current app to depend on the newly added aiconversationkit component.

api project(':aiconversationkit')

Since we use Java's reflection features within the SDK, some classes in the SDK need to be added to the non-obfuscation list. Therefore, you need to add the following code in the proguard-rules.pro file:

-keep class com.tencent.** { *; }

Find the AndroidManifest.xml file under the app directory. Add tools:replace="android:allowBackup" in the application node. Override the settings within the component and use your own settings.

  <application
    android:name=".DemoApplication"
    android:allowBackup="false"
    android:icon="@drawable/app_ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:largeHeap="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme"
    tools:replace="android:allowBackup">

Step 4: Sign In

Add the following code to your project. It enables the login of the component by calling relevant APIs in TUILogin. This step is critical because only after logging in can AIConversationkit features be used normally. Please patiently check if the relevant parameters are configured correctly.

String userId = "denny"; // Please replace with your UserID
int sdkAppId = 1400000001; // Please replace with the sdkAppId obtained in step 1
String sdkSecretKey = "xxxx"; // Please replace with the sdkSecretKey obtained in step 1
String userSig = GenerateTestUserSig.genTestUserSig(sdkAppId, userId, sdkSecretKey);
TUILogin.login(this, sdkAppId, userId, userSig, new TUICallback() {
    @Override public void onSuccess() {}

    @Override public void onError(int errorCode, String errorMessage) {}
});

Step 5: Start Your First AI Conversation

Upon success of TUILogin.login, see the following code to initiate conversational AI service.

AIConversationDefine.StartAIConversationParams startParams = new AIConversationDefine.StartAIConversationParams();

int sdkAppId = 1400000001;      // 1,Replace your sdkAppId
String sdkSecretKey = "xxxx";   // 2,Replace your sdkSecretKey
String aiRobotId = "robot_" + TUILogin.getUserId();
String aiRobotSig = GenerateTestUserSig.genTestUserSig(sdkAppId, aiRobotId, sdkSecretKey);
startParams.agentConfig = AIConversationDefine.AgentConfig.generateDefaultConfig(aiRobotId, aiRobotSig);

startParams.secretId = "xxx";  // 3,Replace your secretId
startParams.secretKey = "xxx"; // 4,Replace your secretKey

// 5,Replace your  llmConfig
startParams.llmConfig = "{\\"LLMType\\":\\"openai\\",\\"Model\\":\\"hunyuan-turbo-latest\\",\\"SystemPrompt\\":\\"You are a private assistant\\",\\"APIUrl\\":\\"https:xxx\\",\\"APIKey\\":\\"xxx\\",\\"History\\":5,\\"Streaming\\":true}"; 
// 6,Replace your  ttsConfig
startParams.ttsConfig = "{\\"TTSType\\":\\"tencent\\",\\"AppId\\":\\"xxx\\",\\"SecretId\\":\\"xxx\\",\\"SecretKey\\":\\"xxx\\",\\"VoiceType\\":\\"502001\\",\\"Speed\\":1.25,\\"Volume\\":5,\\"PrimaryLanguage\\":1,\\"FastVoiceType\\":\\"\\"}";

Intent intent = new Intent(this, AIConversationActivity.class);
intent.putExtra(KEY_START_AI_CONVERSATION, startParams);
startActivity(intent);

1. Use the data obtained in step four for sdkAppId and sdkSecretKey.

2. On the application details page, select RTC-Engine \> Conversational AI, refer to No-Code Quick Integration Of Conversational AI Feature configure conversational AI service parameters, including basic configuration, STT, LLM, TTS, click lower right corner Quick Interation, switch to Android, obtain SecretId, SecretKey and Config parameters.

   

3. Copy the SecretId and SecretKey of TencentCloud API to startParams.secretId and startParams.secretKey.

4. Copy the Config info to a JSON parsing tool, such as JsonUtil. Copy the string value corresponding to LLMConfig to startParams.llmConfig, and copy the string value corresponding to TTSConfig to startParams.ttsConfig.

As AI algorithms continue to advance and hardware technology keeps evolving, AI pets will further enhance social companionship, emotional support, and household entertainment ecosystems. Meanwhile, Tencent RTC’s Conversational AI solution will serve as a crucial driving force behind the transition “from loneliness to companionship,” enabling everyone to enjoy a warmer and more intelligent AI partner.

My name is Susie. I am a writer and Media Service Product Manager. I work with startups across the globe to build real-time communication solutions using SDK and APIs.

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