The world’s first family robot has been designed by MIT professor, Cynthia Breazeal. While it is not set to ship until December 2015, it is raising a lot of excitement.

The robot, named Jibo, will be able to interact with its owners. While it is currently just a prototype, this will likely change soon, with the concept having blown through its Indiegogo goal of $100,000 in a matter of a few days.

The concept is called “social robotics,” and it’s a field that Cynthia Breazeal has worked in for years. In fact, she has specifically been focusing on developing personal robots. The robot can currently perform functions such as taking photos and videos, tracking movements, reading stories to children, and so on. Breazeal envisions that the robot will play a large role in things like education, health care management, and helping the elderly.

Despite the breakthrough, many are raising questions concerning personal robots and social interaction. Because the technology is still in its early stages, it’s hard to say just how much of an impact it will have on people’s lives. A number of people have noted that personal robotics is aiming at solving the same problems that devices like smartphones and wearable devices are trying to solve right now.

Breazeal answers this skepticism, however, with a popular device that was met with the same skepticism upon it’s release – the iPad. “After all, you could already do everything that an iPad could do on either a smartphone or a laptop. So what [was] the point? Now, I have three iPads in my home and millions and millions are sold every year. Why? Because the affordances of the iPad enabled new use cases that were superior or different enough from that of these other devices.”