One is a product. The other is a promise.

Tombot Jennie is a life-size robotic Labrador puppy built specifically for people with dementia and other conditions where a live animal is not possible. The animatronics were designed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop; the sounds were recorded from a real twelve-week-old Lab. It is rechargeable, responds to where and how hard it is petted, has a heartbeat that quickens with attention, and answers to voice commands. Tombot is pursuing FDA recognition as a medical device (not cleared as of September 2026), which would open a path to insurance reimbursement. The company has raised more than $15 million and has a waitlist of roughly 18,000–23,000 people.

It stole the show at CES 2026. Anyone who has seen it in a demo understands why families are waiting.

Shipping. The first "litter" sold out, the current target is late 2026, and that target has already moved twice. There is no published price — the CEO has cited about $1,500, and the $400–500 figures still floating around the web are from 2019. There is no peer-reviewed outcome data; Tombot reports trials with hundreds of seniors, but no institution, metric, or result has been published. There is no facility sales channel. Any store claiming to sell a Jennie today is not selling the real thing.

A $179.99 stationary lap dog that turns toward your voice, wags, barks back, and has a heartbeat you can feel. Four C batteries, no app, no Wi-Fi. It is the pet that New York State has distributed more than 35,000 of since 2018, the one Florida, Alabama, Washington, and Michigan programs used, and (in its cat form) the one robot pet with a cluster-randomized trial in care homes (Bradwell 2022). Its limits are real: it does not learn, the batteries die without warning, and both colors were out of stock on the official site in September 2026 (Amazon had them).

Someone needs a companion now. Buy the Joy for All Pup (or the Cat, which is quieter and in stock more often). Join Jennie's free waitlist anyway; there is no deposit.

You can wait a year and $1,500 is fine. Join the waitlist and still buy a Joy for All. At $180 it is a rounding error against Jennie's price, you learn whether your person responds to a robot pet at all, and you will have something in the lap while Jennie's date moves.

You are buying for a facility. Joy for All now; revisit Jennie once it has a facility channel, a published price, and at least one independent study. See for facilities.

You are an investor or a technologist rather than a caregiver. Jennie is the more interesting product and the company is well funded. That is a different question from what to put in someone's lap this month.

Every extra feature Jennie has over Joy for All — rechargeable battery, more sensors, more sounds, an app — is a feature that the trials did not show matters. What the evidence supports is a warm, furry, responsive object in the lap during regular sessions. A $180 pet delivers that today. Jennie may deliver it better; it has not yet delivered it at all.

Read the caregiver guide before buying either.