TOKYO, May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SwitchBot, a leading provider of AI-enabled embodied home robotics systems, today announced the launch of KATA Friends, Noa and Niko, a new series of AI Pets designed to bring companionship, emotional connection, and intelligent interaction into everyday life.
Unlike traditional smart devices focused on utility, KATA Friends are designed as companions that live alongside users, learning, responding, and growing over time. By combining AI with expressive design and physical interaction, KATA Friends introduce a new category of home robotics centered on presence and connection.
A Companion That Feels Alive
KATA Friends are designed to feel less like machines and more like living companions. Each one comes with its own personality and evolves based on how users interact with it, ensuring that no two KATA Friends are ever the same.
With expressive eyes, natural movements, and 12 touch-sensitive zones across its body, KATA Friends react intuitively to hugs, gestures, and everyday interaction. They can move independently around the home, avoid obstacles, and return to their charging base on their own, reinforcing a sense of autonomy and lifelike behavior.
Understands You and Adapts to Your Life
Designed to integrate naturally into daily routines, KATA Friends respond to voice commands, gestures, and behavioral cues. Users can call them over, interact through simple gestures, or communicate using everyday language, creating an experience that feels intuitive and engaging.
Beyond direct interaction, KATA Friends observe and respond to user behavior. They can greet users in the morning, wait by the door when someone is about to arrive, or quietly offer companionship during moments of rest. Through voice emotion recognition, they can also sense changes in mood and respond accordingly, adding an emotional layer to everyday interaction.
A Personalized Companion That Grows Over Time
KATA Friends are designed to build long-term relationships with users. They can recognize different members of a household and respond uniquely to each individual, remembering preferences and interaction patterns over time.
As users spend more time with their KATA Friend, it develops its own behavior and attachment patterns, shaped entirely by how it is "raised." It can also document shared experiences by keeping a diary of daily interactions and capturing photos from its own perspective, allowing users to revisit moments through the eyes of their companion.
In addition, KATA Friends offer customization options, including interchangeable outfits and accessories, allowing users to personalize both appearance and personality.
Powered by AI for Real-Time Interaction
KATA Friends are equipped with cameras, sensors, and AI capabilities, enabling them to process interactions locally and respond in real time.
The on-device LLM allows KATA Friends to understand speech without relying on constant connectivity, while local visual data processing capabilities enable KATA Friends with gesture comprehension and facial recognition, ensuring responsive interaction and enhanced privacy. Meanwhile, with the Chat Mode, KATA Friends can conduct conversations with users for even more authentic and immersive interactions.
Expanding the Role of AI in Everyday Life
With KATA Friends, SwitchBot expands its vision of embodied AI beyond convenience and automation into companionship. By focusing on interaction, personalization, and emotional intelligence, KATA Friends introduce a new way for users to engage with AI, one that is more human-centered, intuitive, and meaningful.
Pricing and Availability
KATA Friends will be available through the official SwitchBot website, with an MSRP starting at USD 699.99 / GBP 599.99 / EUR 599.99 / CAD 999.99.
For more information, please visit SwitchBot's official website and follow SwitchBot on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Media Kit: SwitchBot KATA Friends
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SwitchBot Officially Launches KATA Friends, AI Pets That Truly Grow With You
HONG KONG, Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) held its "Multi-disciplinary Enhanced Deployment in Critical Surgical Care" (MEDICS) training in Hong Kong from 5 to 10 November. The training aimed to strengthen MSF aid workers' ability to respond to challenges in humanitarian settings, ensuring that teams can continue to deliver high-quality medical care to patients. A total of 27 medical personnel from 18 countries and regions, including Hong Kong, participated in the training. Over the years, MSF Hong Kong has recruited professionals from across the region to provide medical humanitarian assistance in more than 70 countries, demonstrating the important role Hong Kong and the wider Asian region play in international humanitarian action.
The six-day training brought together experienced MSF facilitators and a diverse group of MSF staff, ranging from new recruits to experienced colleagues. Through lectures, case discussions, and simulation exercises, facilitators shared their frontline experience and knowledge with participants. The training covered specialised clinical topics, including the management of blast and ballistic wounds, fracture management, damage control surgery, emergency obstetric surgery, and pain management. It also addressed non-clinical aspects of humanitarian work, such as personnel management, the supply of medical equipment and medicines, and ethical considerations in humanitarian interventions. These modules helped participants develop a more comprehensive understanding of humanitarian operations and foster teamwork in challenging frontline settings.
Putting learning into practice through simulation
The final day of the training featured a mass casualty simulation exercise, replicating a scenario in which an MSF hospital receives a sudden influx of wounded patients following an explosion. Applying their newly acquired knowledge, participants took on roles as project coordinators, logisticians, and medical staff. They worked together to assess and triage patients while responding to challenges such as staff shortages and depleted supplies, striving to deliver lifesaving medical care. Following the exercise, participants and facilitators held a debriefing session to consolidate lessons learned and explore ways to strengthen their ability to respond to real-world crises.
Shun-Yat Fok, a nurse who previously worked with MSF in Bangladesh and Afghanistan, attended MEDICS training in Hong Kong for the first time. "In places like Hong Kong, hospitals tend to have a highly specialised division of labour. This training gave me the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of other medical specialties, as well as important aspects of humanitarian work, such as supply logistics and medical stock management." said Fok.
"In the field, aid workers often face multiple challenges, including limited resources, high-pressure working environments, and security threats. Teamwork and adaptability are key to overcoming these difficulties, helping us save more lives in humanitarian crises."
MSF provides emergency medical assistance to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters, as well as those excluded from healthcare. For more than 30 years, MSF Hong Kong has served as a vital recruitment hub in the region. In 2025 alone, MSF Hong Kong deployed 134 professionals on 163 frontline assignments across 32 countries and regions, with approximately 53% of deployments involving medical and paramedical roles.
Dr. Kandice Li, President of MSF Hong Kong and a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology, said: "In recent years, humanitarian crises around the world have remained severe, making humanitarian assistance more important than ever. The efforts of any single humanitarian organisation or individual aid worker are far from sufficient to meet these immense needs.
"The emergency medical assistance MSF provides is made possible by the dedication and support of our aid workers, supporters and donors. We are deeply grateful for the continued support from Hong Kong and across the Asia-Pacific region. Only when people from different walks of life stand in solidarity with those affected by crises and bring together their skills, resources and strengths can we collectively address the challenges ahead."
About MSF
MSF is an independent international medical humanitarian organisation. We are committed to providing emergency medical assistance to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics and natural disasters, and those who have been excluded from the health care system. MSF will only provide assistance based on people's needs, regardless of race, religion, gender or politics.
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MSF hosts multidisciplinary medical training in Hong Kong to strengthen emergency response capabilities of international medical teams
MSF hosts multidisciplinary medical training in Hong Kong to strengthen emergency response capabilities of international medical teams
