PAL Robotics ARI

ARI is a social humanoid robot from Barcelona-based PAL Robotics. It rolls on a wheeled base and has gesturing arms, a head with animated eyes and a chest touchscreen. It is used to greet visitors, run promotions and support human-robot interaction research, including in elderly care.

Design and hardware

PAL lists ARI at 165 cm tall, 53 cm wide and 73 cm deep, with 8-12 hours of autonomy. A 10.1-inch (1200 × 800) touchscreen sits on its chest, and it expresses itself through head and arm movements, animated eyes, gaze and light effects.

The robot detects and identifies people, recognizes speech and intent, and navigates with its own sensor suite, so most sites need no tracks or markers. Add-ons include an NVIDIA Jetson module for AI workloads, RGB-D and thermal cameras and a spare charger.

Software and AI

ARI runs Ubuntu LTS with a real-time OS and ROS. A simulation model, Gazebo packages and tutorials (OpenCV, MoveIt, human-robot interaction) are public on the ROS wiki. Business users change screen content, speech and gestures through a web interface with a motion editor, while integrators use the API and SDK.

PAL says the robot speaks more than 30 languages and handles dialogue through a built-in chatbot. In the SPRING project its conversations were extended with large language models.

Applications and deployments

PAL markets ARI as a receptionist, guide, presenter and event attraction, and as a research platform. The PAL team presented it at IEEE RO-MAN 2020 as a socially assistive robot and companion.

In the EU SHAPES project ARI ran pilots in Mallorca, at Clínica Humana and the Ca'n Granada care residence, aimed at engaging older adults. In the SPRING project, coordinated by France's INRIA, it talked with patients at Broca Hospital in Paris, which provides day care for older people with Alzheimer's and other cognitive impairments. Trials involved more than 100 patients, companions and staff, and the robot learned to converse with two people at once and to tell whether it was being addressed.

Manufacturer

PAL Robotics is based in Barcelona. Its roots go back to 2004, when four engineers started work on the REEM-A humanoid. The company is linked to PAL Group in the United Arab Emirates and also builds TIAGo, TALOS and Kangaroo.

Price and availability

ARI is a current PAL product, but pricing is not public; quotes are given on request.

Timeline

• 2020 ARI presented as a socially assistive robot at IEEE RO-MAN 2020
• 2022 Elderly care pilots in Mallorca (SHAPES project)
• 2024-05 End of the first validation phase at Broca Hospital, Paris (SPRING project)

Sources

1. ARI, PAL Robotics (2025)
2. Robots/ARI (ROS wiki), ROS / PAL Robotics (2026-10-03)
3. Robo-companion: humanoid robot gets chatty to help elderly hospital patients, Horizon, European Commission (2025-03-04)
4. Lessons Learnt from Deploying ARI in Residential Care, arXiv (2022-07-06)
5. PAL Robotics launches humanoid biped robot REEM-C, euRobotics (2014-05-25)

Updated: 2026-10-10

Compared with the catalogue

• At 165 cm the PAL Robotics ARI is taller than 30% of the humanoids in the catalogue (median: 170 cm).
• It is one of 4 PAL Robotics models in the catalogue and one of 4 humanoids from Spain.

Capabilities