Companion-robotics startup Mind With Heart Robotics is bringing its emotionally intelligent panda robot AnAn to Europe at IFA Berlin 2026, joining the flagship Robots on the Runway program on 5 September and signing its first European distributor deals in Germany and Belgium.
Affective AI in a plush body
AnAn is handcrafted with premium Australian wool and sheepskin over a full-body tactile skin that responds to touch with gentle movements and emotional feedback. Onboard affective AI drives proactive interaction: the robot initiates conversation when a user goes quiet, delivers gentle reminders, and builds long-term memory of routines and preferences. Mind With Heart's pitch is that companion robots stall on cold industrial design as much as on hardware — so AnAn is designed to feel and behave like an animal, not a gadget.
Aimed at seniors and cognitive care
The most concrete use case is elderly companionship. For users experiencing cognitive decline, AnAn proactively engages during long periods of inactivity, offers reminders and gives caregivers a lightweight oversight surface. That combination of biomimetic form factor and clinical-adjacent memory features is what earned the robot a CES 2026 Innovation Awards honoree citation in the AI category earlier this year.
European rollout and pricing
Mind With Heart has signed distributor agreements in Germany and Belgium, with AnAn going on sale in September 2026 at overseas retail pricing between $1,000 and $1,500. The European debut sits alongside a wider push into consumer companion robotics visible across IFA 2026 — from OlloBot's OlloNi SS1 cyber pet to LG's CLOiD home agent.
Why it matters
Companion robotics has long promised more than it delivered, weighed down by uncanny industrial design and short attention loops. AnAn's bet is that soft biomimetic form plus persistent memory can carry the category past novelty and into the reimbursable margins of senior care and cognitive wellness. IFA's European retail window is a first real test of that thesis outside China.
Reporting based on coverage from PR Newswire, HIPTHER and Mind With Heart Robotics.