Ropet: a Chinese plush robot at a tenth of LOVOT’s price

A plush pet from the maker of a children’s reading robot

Ropet is a plush robot made by Mengyou Intelligence of Beijing, China, founded in 2022. CEO He Jiabin previously led Luka, a children’s reading robot, at ByteDance. Co-founder Zhou Yushu holds a Stanford PhD in HCI and cognitive psychology. Ropet has a round body small enough to hold, with screen eyes and a camera. It weighs 600 g, simulates a body temperature of about 37 °C and can act hungry. The company aimed it at young adults such as office-working women in their thirties.

9,400 units in six months, mostly in Asia

Ropet opened a Kickstarter campaign in December 2024 and was shown at CES in January 2025. It cost $299, or $319 for the Pro. 36Kr reported that over 70% of Kickstarter buyers were women. The Kickstarter total is given as $200,000–400,000, depending on when it was reported. According to Xinhua, 9,400 units had sold by June 2025, 8,000 of them in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In August 2025 a campaign on Japan’s Makuake passed ¥27 million within an hour. The next month the company raised tens of millions of yuan in a round led by the Beijing AI industry investment fund. In October 2026 the official store sells KAMOMO Pro at $279.99, down from $349.

“Interacting with Ropet is enjoyable”

CEO He Jiabin said that holding or touching Ropet can calm people, much as petting a cat soothes stress. Zhou Yushu said the team wanted to make something people see as a real pet. Forbes contributor Prakhar Khanna, who tried Ropet at CES 2025, wrote that it is unsettling to think about replacing pets with an AI product. Then he added: “That being said, interacting with Ropet is enjoyable.” He found the battery life unimpressive.

A tenth of LOVOT’s price

36Kr Japan reported that Ropet draws comparisons with Japan’s LOVOT in design and concept, at about a tenth of the price. Where LOVOT in this archive puts warmth and touch into an expensive robot, Ropet puts the same elements into a small, cheap body. Most of its sales also came from Asian markets such as Japan and South Korea.

What do warmth and a furry touch change between an expensive robot and a cheap one?

What we haven’t confirmed

• The final Kickstarter total ($200,000, $300,000 or $400,000, depending on the source)
• Sales after June 2025
• Whether all Kickstarter backers have received their robots
• The company’s English name (sources give Cute World Technologies Ltd. and Ropet CO.LTD)