OKA has released Mori, a 26.4-centimetre ai lamp robot that looks like a table lamp and is built for companionship. It greets people, dances to music and plays nature sounds. The company positions it as a presence in the home, not a household assistant that automates chores.
Mori has a cloth-covered base and an illuminated, dome-shaped head. When the head lifts, cartoonish eyes blink and swivel. According to OKA, Mori “resembles a contemporary table lamp” and is designed to “help people feel calmer, more at ease, and more connected to the world around them.”
OKA told Dezeen that the team wanted Mori to feel like “a familiar object in the home rather than an unfamiliar machine.” The company argued that many robots look technical, mechanical or overly human. A lamp, by contrast, is already part of daily life.
Mori is far from the only lamp-shaped object trying to earn a place in daily life, and designers are rethinking how these objects are built. Luis Frey’s repairable ORI lamp in abaca and steel shows how a lighting object can be designed to last and be fixed.
Two modes and simple controls for this ai lamp robot
Mori operates in two modes. In lamp setting, it stays compact and at rest. In responsive setting, the head lifts and tilts, and the robot engages with its surroundings.
OKA’s proprietary AI system drives the robot’s behaviour. Mori plays audio informed by rain and other nature sounds, changes the colour of its lamp top, and communicates without words through multi-axis neck and body movement.
Touch controls on the ai lamp robot are simple. Tapping the top of the head retracts the face, and Mori “becomes a quiet lamp.” Gripping the base starts a breathing exercise. Mori also makes small sounds during these interactions.
OKA says the design is meant to blend in. “Mori’s soft silhouette and tactile materials let it blend into domestic interiors,” the company said. Its warmth, brightness and subtle changes are intended to suggest comfort, curiosity or calm, without relying on screens or speech.
How the AI decides when to act
OKA calls the underlying model Attentive Intelligence. The framework is built on research by OKA co-founder Weizhe Chen. In short, a reactive system waits for a prompt, while a proactive one decides whether to act at all.
According to OKA, Mori learns the layout of a room and remembers occupants, routines and interaction history. It uses “judgment to decide when to proactively engage or remain quiet.” The company describes the behaviour this way: “It reads the room before responding and weighs whether to join in, so sometimes a small nod is enough and sometimes it stays quiet.”
Behaviour also varies over time. OKA says a framework called VIBE, short for Vitality, Interaction, Bonding and Emotion, shapes an inner state that drifts with experience. The same greeting can sound lively one day and gentle the next.
Chen holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University Bloomington. His co-authored work on attentive robotic information gathering received the Best Student Paper Award at Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) in 2022.
Nature, privacy and power
Nature is central to this ai lamp robot. Combining movement, lighting and high-fidelity audio, Mori recreates experiences inspired by rainfall, forests and campfires. Users can start a session with a touch or accept an invitation from the robot during the day. OKA says these sessions are brief and meant to fit into ordinary routines, not replace time outdoors.
Mori’s focus on nature sounds and screen-free calm has a parallel in children’s tech. Freckle Phone’s screen-free approach to nature discovery is worth a look for anyone interested in technology that pulls people outdoors rather than onto a display.
OKA says Mori processes its perception on the device. Its camera can be physically concealed when the head retracts into the body.
Mori is rechargeable and offers a 2.5-hour battery life. OKA recommends keeping it plugged in. The robot comes in several soft colourways.
OKA was founded in 2024 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by entrepreneur and designer Hua Wang and robotics researcher Weizhe Chen. The company wants its robots to “integrate seamlessly into human life rather than forcing human life to adapt to technology.” Wang put the goal more personally in the launch release: “What if technology didn’t ask for more of our attention, but gave some of it back to people?”
Pricing and the five-product plan
The launch press release describes a limited Founder Edition run of a few hundred units at $649. That price includes priority delivery, two years of hardware coverage and two years of subscription service, which OKA values at $158. Standard preorders were listed at $799 with a $79 deposit. Buyers can find current terms on OKA’s website.
OKA plans to release five major products, which it calls artifacts. Mori is the first. Dezeen notes that Mori is one of a growing number of companion robots for the home that use embodied AI, meaning an AI model placed inside a physical body. Other examples include the Droxel “droid butler” and Neo, a humanoid robot in a cloth bodysuit.
The real test for Mori is whether buyers want a lamp that turns toward them. For a robot priced at $649, that question will matter more than any spec sheet.
Via dezeen.com
Frequently asked questions
What is OKA’s Mori robot and what does it do?
Mori is a 26.4-centimetre AI lamp robot from OKA that looks like a table lamp and is built for companionship. It greets people, dances to music, plays nature sounds, and is designed as a presence in the home rather than a household assistant that automates chores.
How do the touch controls on Mori work?
Tapping the top of Mori’s head retracts the face, and the robot then becomes a quiet lamp. Gripping the base starts a breathing exercise.
How long does Mori’s battery last on a charge?
Mori is rechargeable and offers a 2.5-hour battery life. OKA recommends keeping it plugged in.
How much does the Mori robot lamp cost?
The launch release describes a limited Founder Edition run of a few hundred units at $649, which includes priority delivery, two years of hardware coverage and two years of subscription service. Standard preorders were listed at $799 with a $79 deposit.
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