Tombot Jennie: Price, Release Date and What It Actually Does

Tombot Jennie is the robot dog most people are actually asking about when they search for a realistic robotic pet: a Labrador retriever puppy designed with Jim Henson's Creature Shop as an emotional-support device for seniors with dementia and others who can no longer safely care for a live animal. Here is the honest status as of July 2026: Jennie is still waitlist-only, Tombot has not published a final price (it has previously cited around $1,500), and first customer shipments are targeted for late 2026. This page covers what Jennie does, who it is for, when you can realistically get one, and what to buy instead if you need something now. The wider market is ranked in our best robot dogs guide.

What is the Tombot Jennie robot dog?

Jennie is modeled on an 8-to-10-week-old yellow Labrador puppy, a breed chosen deliberately: Labs have been America's most popular dog for decades, and the familiar shape helps emotional attachment. The design was done with Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the studio behind decades of film puppetry, which is why Jennie's proportions and head movements read as animal rather than toy. Touch sensors across the body respond to where and how firmly it is petted, its barks and whimpers are recordings of real Labrador puppies, and it responds to dozens of voice commands. It is deliberately built not to walk: Jennie is designed to live in a lap, because its founding use case is a senior with dementia who cannot chase a wandering robot around the house. A companion smartphone app handles settings and software updates, and the battery is rechargeable.

Why Jennie exists

Tombot founder Tom Stevens created Jennie after his mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis forced him to rehome her dog, one of the hardest days of both their lives, and the replacement he wanted did not exist. The design brief has stayed clinical rather than gadget-driven: an emotional-support animal for people facing health adversities, including dementia, mild cognitive impairment, autism, anxiety and PTSD. That focus is also why Tombot works with research partners and pitches Jennie to senior-living facilities as well as families. Robotic pets are comfort products, not medical treatments, but the caregiving field has used them for years; the Joy for All companion pets that pioneered the category are widely deployed in dementia care.

Tombot Jennie price and release date: the honest status

As of July 2026, tombot.com takes free waitlist reservations and says it will contact the list with pricing and availability closer to shipping. The company has previously cited a target price around $1,500, and its store shows no purchasable product. First customer shipments have been targeted for late 2026, a date that has moved several times over the years as the company refined the hardware through beta trials, so treat it as a target rather than a promise. The waitlist is reported in the tens of thousands. Two warnings follow from that: any store claiming to sell a Jennie today is not selling the real thing, and the heavily advertised "realistic robot puppies" on social media, Wuffy and Nicoo among them, are documented drop-ship bait we break down in our robot dog toys guide.

What to buy while you wait

If the need is now, a dementia-care gift or a companion for a senior who cannot keep a live pet, the closest shipping product is the Joy for All Companion Pet Pup at $179.99: fur, a simulated heartbeat, and voice-responsive barks, from the Hasbro spin-out that has served this exact market for a decade. It is less lifelike than Jennie but it exists, today, for an eighth of Jennie's cited price. If the buyer wants a clever robot pet rather than a realistic one, Sony's Aibo at $2,899.99 delivers the most dog-like behavior ever shipped. We compare all of these in our realistic robot dogs guide.

Bottom line

Jennie is the most credible attempt yet at a robot dog that feels like an animal instead of a gadget, backed by a genuinely serious design partner and a founder story that keeps the product honest. But you cannot buy one today, the price is not final, and the shipping target has slipped before. Join the waitlist if Jennie is the right fit, buy the $179.99 Joy for All Pup if the need is immediate, and check our robot dogs ranking for everything in between.