Many people don't understand AI robot cats. My mom's generation thinks it's just an electric toy. My cousin bought one last month for 3,200 yuan, saying he wanted to keep it as a pet.
I've had a real cat for six years. A tabby cat named Mantou. Last year, a friend who works in AI hardware gave me a robot cat to try out — an engineering sample from a crowdfunding platform. I used it for four weeks. I have some thoughts.
AI cats on the market range from 600 to 8,000 yuan. The 600 yuan tier is basically a plush toy that blinks, with three or four built-in sensors that make sounds when touched. The 8,000 yuan tier advertises a "deep emotional engine" that can learn the owner's habits and will actively seek you out to play.
The one I got was mid-to-high-end, market price 4,200 yuan. Official specs listed 86 types of interactive responses, with voice recognition and face tracking support.
Actual test results: It could indeed turn its head when I called it. About six out of ten times it responded. The other four times it entered "sleep mode" and didn't move at all. Sensor sensitivity was mediocre — sometimes when I pet its back, it took two or three seconds before it responded with movement.
The Real Cat Ledger
I've kept records. Mantou's monthly expenses: cat food 180, cat litter 60, canned food and freeze-dried treats 120, deworming medicine averaged out to 25. Annual checkup and vaccines about 600, which is 50 per month. Total: 435 per month.
Six years comes to 31,320. When Mantou was three, she got ringworm. Two months of treatment cost 1,800. Last year, gastroenteritis hospitalization cost 3,400. Various medical expenses add up to nearly 7,000.
I've replaced the cat tree twice, totaling 900. Cat beds, toys, nail clippers and other miscellaneous items over six years cost at least 2,000. Raising Mantou for six years, I calculated the total at around 41,500 yuan.
The AI cat: 4,200 purchase price, two hours of charging daily, electricity cost negligible. The manufacturer recommends replacing the motion module every 18 months, priced at 380. Six years of use, total cost around 5,340 yuan.
On paper, the AI cat is much cheaper. But there's a problem with this calculation.
🐱 Real Cat (6 Years)
🤖 AI Cat (6 Years)
What Manufacturers Hide
The AI cat's selling point focuses on "peace of mind." No litter to scoop, no feeding, no shedding, no 4 AM meowing.
True. But what does 86 types of interactive responses really mean? After four weeks of use, I'd basically seen them all. By the third week, I could already predict what movement it would make next.
Every morning at 7 AM it does "stretching." Around 9 PM it does "leg rubbing." On weekends it does "belly up" a few more times. These are all hardcoded programs that have nothing to do with how I treat it.
Mantou isn't like this. Last week she suddenly started licking the wall. Never did that in the previous six years. I researched for a long time but couldn't figure out why. Then she just stopped on her own.
This kind of thing — code can't produce it.
People Who Buy AI Cats
I asked several friends who bought them. Roughly three situations:
Renters
Their rental doesn't allow live animals. They want something furry moving around the house, and three to four thousand yuan is acceptable. When posting videos to social media, others can't tell if it's real or fake. This I can understand.
For Elderly Parents
A colleague bought one for her mom, saying the elderly person was too bored at home alone. After two months of use, that AI cat is now sitting in the storage room. Her mom said it was boring.
Tech Enthusiasts
Then there are tech people who buy them to take apart. This type doesn't care if it's like a real cat — they just want to see what chips and algorithms are inside.
Manufacturers' ads target the first two types. The copy says "healing companionship," "zero-barrier pet ownership," "a family member who'll never leave." I know someone who does marketing in this industry. He owns a real cat himself.
The copy says "healing companionship," "zero-barrier pet ownership," "a family member who'll never leave." I know someone who does marketing in this industry. He owns a real cat himself.
In the End
An AI cat is not a cheaper version of a cat. It's something from a completely different category.
If you want something that moves, is soft, sits in your home for you to pet occasionally — an AI cat works. 4,000 yuan for four or five years of use isn't a bad deal.
If you want that kind of relationship — where it runs over to nuzzle you when you're feeling down, but completely ignores you the rest of the time, and you can never figure out what it's thinking — an AI cat can't give you that. Code can't produce this result.
That engineering sample — I returned it to my friend after four weeks. Mantou still steps on my face to wake me up every morning. Yesterday she jumped down from the cabinet, slipped when she landed, and slid half a meter away, standing there stunned. This kind of thing won't appear in any product manual.