navel robotics
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersMünchen, Germany
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
navel robotics firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- navel robotics
- Legal name
- navel robotics GmbH
- Website
- https://navelrobotics.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
navel robotics industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Social Robotics
- akta.pro primary industry
- Healthcare & Assistive Robotics (HDAAAIAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Home Companion & Social Robots (CRACARAE)
Keywords
Where navel robotics is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- München
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
navel robotics business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Robot Sales (One-time Purchase): Sale of the empathy robot Navel as a one-time purchase price. Includes care application, lifelong support, lifelong updates, and cloud fee for first 6 months.
- Robot Lease: Lease option for the Navel robot as an alternative to one-time purchase, making it accessible without large upfront capital expenditure.
- Cloud Services: Cloud fee included for first 6 months after purchase, likely renewable subscription for ongoing cloud connectivity and LLM services.
- Research Platform Sales: Sale of tech platform version without care application for research institutions, including Python-SDK access.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Navel Care - Full care robot with applications |
| Subscription | Monthly | Navel Care - Lease option |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Navel Research - Tech platform without care application |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
navel robotics product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Navel Robotics GmbH develops and manufactures the Navel — a social robot designed to provide emotional support, companionship, and social interaction to residents of elderly care facilities. The robot uses AI, computer vision, and natural language processing to recognize faces and emotions, engage in conversation, and offer cognitive activation for residents including those with dementia. The product line includes Navel Care (for nursing homes) and Navel Research (for academic institutions), supported by a Python SDK and Robot Control Studio software suite.
Product overview
Navel Robotics offers a portfolio of social robot products centered on the Navel empathy robot, designed primarily for elderly care and healthcare settings. The core offering is the Navel robot - a social robot with expressive facial expressions, eye contact capabilities, and natural language conversation powered by LLMs. The product line includes: (1) Navel with Care Application for nursing homes and care facilities, providing cognitive and emotional activation; (2) Navel Research variant without care application for academic research; (3) Navel Control Studio browser interface for configuration; and (4) Python SDK for custom development. The robot is built on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier hardware and can be purchased or leased. Navel addresses loneliness, cognitive activation, and dementia support in care settings, operating as a pre-series product since October 2023 with small series production ramping up.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Navel Care
- Navel Research
- Robot Control Studio
- Python SDK (navel)
- Cloud Services
- Robot Lease
Quantifiable outcome
- Improves well-being of people in need of care (Dr. Schoch, Institute for Care and Ageing, Evangelische Heimstiftung)
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use navel robotics
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
navel robotics technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability9 records
Feature6 records
navel robotics partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- University of Bielefeld, CITECcoreResearch consortium partner in BMBF-funded VIVA project. CITEC contributed expertise in Cognitive Systems and Social Interaction (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Kopp, Hendrik Buschmeier, Sonja Stange, Teena Hassan) and Applied Social Psychology and Gender Studies (Prof. Dr. Friederike Eyssel, Julia Stapels).
- University of AugsburgcoreConsortium partner in VIVA project contributing Human-Centered Multimedia expertise (Prof. Dr. Elisabeth André, Ilhan Aslan, Björn Bittner, Katharina Weitz, Kathrin Janowski).
- University of Applied Sciences of BielefeldcoreVIVA project consortium partner providing Commercial Law expertise (Prof. Dr. jur. Axel Benning, Ass. jur. Silke Schulz-Pabst, Abdulmuttalip Erduran).
- Neuland Software GmbHcoreVIVA project consortium partner contributing Software Development expertise (Thomas Lippert, Klaus Schwarzmüller, Klaus Danner).
- Visions4IT GmbHcoreVIVA project consortium partner providing Electronics Development expertise (Christian Nothaft).
- NVIDIAcoreNVIDIA Inception Program member providing access to GPU technology, deep learning AI tools, and technical support for the Jetson-based robotics platform.
- Care Venture CircleminorNetwork organization connecting startups with care industry expertise and resources.
- Care-for-Innovation e.V.minorInnovation network for care sector supporting development and adoption of innovative care solutions.
- Altenpflege MesseminorNominated for Startup Challenge at the major German elderly care trade fair, providing exposure to care industry professionals.
- Deutsche StartupsminorGerman startup ecosystem organization providing visibility and networking opportunities.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights7 records
navel robotics competitors and assessment
Company assessmentPeers
Direct peers
- Intuition Robotics: Israel/US-based developer of ElliQ, an LLM-powered AI companion robot explicitly targeted at older adults living independently. Directly comparable to Navel in product category (empathic companion robot), customer segment (elderly), business model (hardware plus subscription), and technology stack (LLMs, on-device privacy posture).
- Catalia Health: US-based health companion robot maker (Mabu) that engages patients in conversational interactions to support chronic disease management and medication adherence. Comparable to Navel in social robotics for healthcare, AI-driven personalized dialog, and patient engagement use cases.
- PARO Robots: Manufacturer of the PARO therapeutic robot seal, widely deployed in eldercare and dementia care. Directly comparable to Navel as a social/companion robot used in nursing homes and dementia settings, though PARO uses a non-verbal tactile design rather than conversational AI.
- Furhat Robotics: Swedish social robotics platform with an expressive face-on-screen robot used in healthcare, research, and customer service. Comparable to Navel in social robotics, anthropomorphic expression, and emphasis on HRI research partnerships.
- Embodied: US-based companion robot company (Moxie) using LLM-driven conversational AI for personalized interactions, focused on child development and increasingly on eldercare applications. Comparable to Navel in conversational AI companion robotics and subscription/hardware revenue model.
Emerging players
- Tombot: US startup developing Jennie, a robotic emotional support animal for older adults with dementia. Comparable to Navel as an emotionally supportive robot for eldercare, though Tombot focuses on tactile/pet-like engagement rather than conversational AI.
- Diligent Robotics: US-based maker of Moxi, a hospital service robot that supports clinical staff. Comparable to Navel as a healthcare-focused robotics company selling into enterprise care settings, though Diligent focuses on logistics rather than social/emotional engagement.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
navel robotics social profiles
Digital presencenavel robotics compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
navel robotics financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
navel robotics leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
navel robotics funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
navel robotics M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about navel robotics
What does navel robotics do?
Navel Robotics GmbH develops and manufactures the Navel — a social robot designed to provide emotional support, companionship, and social interaction to residents of elderly care facilities. The robot uses AI, computer vision, and natural language processing to recognize faces and emotions, engage in conversation, and offer cognitive activation for residents including those with dementia. The product line includes Navel Care (for nursing homes) and Navel Research (for academic institutions), supported by a Python SDK and Robot Control Studio software suite.
Is navel robotics a public or private company?
navel robotics is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was navel robotics founded?
navel robotics was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is navel robotics based?
navel robotics is headquartered in München, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does navel robotics make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Robot Sales (One-time Purchase) is the primary driver. The others are robot Lease, cloud Services and research Platform Sales.
Who are navel robotics's main competitors?
SoftBank Robotics is listed as a peer. Direct peers are Intuition Robotics, Catalia Health, PARO Robots, Furhat Robotics and Embodied. Emerging players are Tombot and Diligent Robotics.
Does navel robotics have an API?
Yes. Navel Robotics offers a Python SDK (navel) that allows developers to programmatically control and interact with the Navel robot. The SDK provides classes for Robot control (combining Motion, Perception, and Speech interfaces), enabling developers to send commands for robot movement, facial expressions, speech synthesis, and receive perception data including person detection, facial expression recognition, and sound source tracking. The SDK is available via the robot's built-in examples and can be installed via pip. Documentation is hosted at doc.navelrobotics.com with Getting Started, API Reference, Python Snippets, and Technical Details sections. Developer documentation is at doc.navelrobotics.com.
What industry is navel robotics in?
navel robotics's product category is Social Robotics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAIAC, Healthcare & Assistive Robotics, with a secondary code of CRACARAE, Home Companion & Social Robots.