Sweekar turns the Tamagotchi into a physical AI pocket pet that won't die on you

Takway, a startup that wants to be the "Nintendo of the AI robot era," has unveiled a Tamagotchi-like virtual pet at CES 2026 that's meant to go with you everywhere and develop a unique personality in the process. Sweekar is an AI companion built into a palm-sized toy, a cutesy egg-shaped device with ears and a screen for its face. As with a Tamagotchi, you'll have to feed and play with it to keep it happy and healthy, and its mood and facial expressions will reflect your care. But this virtual pet will remember your voice and the activities you've done together — and once it's grown up, it will keep itself entertained, go off on its own virtual excursions (kind of like a Finch birb) and bring back tales of its adventures.  The Sweekar pocket pet being placed into a large brown checkered purseTakwaySweekar comes in pink, yellow and blue, but there will also be the option to switch up the shells and buy silly little outfits for it, because why not. The pocket pet has four life stages, becoming less needy as it grows. It starts out as a closed egg for its two-day incubation period, after which it will "break" its shell to reveal a face. From then on, you have to keep it alive with care tasks and attention in order to raise it through the baby and teen stages. Once it's an adult though, it will be able to care for itself autonomously. That means you no longer run the risk of killing it through neglect. Sweekar is unkillable from Level 51 on. (At least, in the virtual sense. Hardware can always break, and you'll have to keep it charged).Two Sweekar devices are pictured on a table, one wearing a pink and blue snowboarder outfit and the other (behind it) wearing a cowboy hat and outfitKarissa Bell for EngadgetThere's no set price for it just yet, but Sweekar will likely fall within the $100-$150 range once it becomes available. The company says it will soon be launching a Kickstarter campaign.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/sweekar-turns-the-tamagotchi-into-a-physical-ai-pocket-pet-that-wont-die-on-you-023525228.html?src=rss