WowWee is ratcheting up its robot game with a new toy that can be personalized for each kid who plays with it. Launching in October 2023, Dog-E aims to stand out from the pack with customizable features/sounds and a tail that can move and display text. Kids will be able to change the look, bark and personality of their dog through a free app.

The goal with Dog-E is to give kids a toy that they can make their own (even if they have to share it with siblings). As each child plays with the bot for the first time, sensors automatically change its color and appearance.

Parents can save multiple profiles on the app, so even kids from the same family will have totally different experiences on the same Dog-E, says Sydney Wiseman, WowWee’s VP of brand development and creative strategy.

“We’re gamifying the dog-keeping experience,” she explains. “We’re also getting back into robots because kids are talking more about tech now and making it a bigger part of their play.”

The app keeps kids updated on how happy their dog is feeling, and if it needs to poop or play. There are also games kids can play to solve problems like ridding their dog of fleas. Kids can even dole out treats to Dog-E from the app, which will change the dog’s color and trigger a variety of reactions.

WowWee is also tapping into coding and STEM skill-building by offering basic programming options in the form of commands such as, “If I clap twice, you bark once.” Dog-E has sensors that can identify sounds and touch, so it can fully engage with kids.

Launching with an aggressive suggested retail price of just US$79.99, this is WowWee’s first robotic toy since CHiP—also a dog—was released in 2016. This early effort was priced at US$200, and in a market rife with consoles and tablets, sales soon slowed.

Wowee has since shifted away from the category and has scored hits over the past few years with brands like Fingerlings (animatronic toys that attach to kids’ fingers) and Twilight Daycare dolls. The toyco sees this as the perfect time to re-enter the entertainment robot market, which analysts are predicting will grow substantially in the near future.

The value of the category is expected to hit US$60 billion by 2029 (up from US$11 billion in 2021), driven by a growing demand for animatronics and parents increasingly viewing robots as educational tools, according to Data Bridge Market Research.

This story was originally published in Kidscreen‘s February/March 2023 issue.