How to get ElliQ free (or nearly free) through your state's aging programs. Offbrand Human

ElliQ is a tabletop companion robot built for older adults, and the odd thing about it is how you get one. Most ElliQs never pass through a store. State aging agencies buy them and provide them to qualifying seniors, usually free. Retail exists, but it's the side door; Intuition Robotics' main channel is government and agency partnerships. So before you pay for one for a parent, spend twenty minutes checking whether your state will simply hand you one.

The top of ElliQ's partner-programs page, headlined 'Get ElliQ at no cost through partner programs' above the line 'ElliQ, the AI-powered companion robot, is available for eligible members through the fully subsidized program,' with a 'Check Your Eligibility' button and nav links for How ElliQ works, For Caregivers and FAQs. — The free route is the company's own front door, in the company's own words: at no cost, fully subsidized, eligibility check first. Source: elliq.com/pages/free, captured 6 August 2026. The list of partner states sits further down that page, below this frame.

What ElliQ costs if you just buy it

Direct from the company: $249 initiation plus a $39 to $59/month subscription (from elliq.com, August 2026). The subscription isn't optional. ElliQ's proactive check-ins, conversation, and caregiver features run on it. Over the first year that's roughly $720 to $960; later years drop the initiation fee, so figure $468 to $708.

Close-up of an ElliQ on a table in a lived-in room rather than a studio, the faceless swiveling head at left and the docked tablet at right playing an exercise video 1:13 into a 6:06 session, which is the hardware plus running content the initiation fee and the monthly subscription pay for. — The two pieces you actually get: the swiveling head, and the docked screen with its clip-on camera, here part way through an exercise session. Photo: Intuition Robotics

The state-program route

ElliQ's "Partners Program" works through state and local aging agencies, which buy units and provide them free to qualifying seniors. Confirmed participating agencies, as of August 2026:

New York: the NY State Office for the Aging's ElliQ Proactive Care Companion Initiative, the largest and best-documented deployment (roughly 900 units, three annual public reports; 834 households enrolled and 3,500+ applications as of the state's February 2026 report). Enrollment runs through your county's Area Agency on Aging, which screens applicants, and there is currently a waitlist. You can also reach ElliQ's program line directly: help@elliq.com or (855) 888-1295.
Washington: a different animal. Since March 2026, the state's Department of Social and Health Services covers ElliQ as a Medicaid benefit (a "Smart Care Device") for recipients enrolled in Community First Choice or Roads to Community Living who receive services in their own home and have a case manager. Assisted-living and adult-family-home residents aren't eligible. It's fully covered, no billing information collected. Start with the eligibility form or call (855) 888-1295. Separately, the Olympic Area Agency on Aging is listed as a Washington partner on ElliQ's locator.
Florida: the Area Agency on Aging of Broward County, for Broward residents 60 and older who speak English and spend most of their time at home (you need power and stable WiFi; note ElliQ is English-only and is not an emergency or fall-detection device). Sign up via the enrollment form, the program line at (954) 770-7136, or the ADRC helpline at (954) 745-9779. Two more Florida agencies are on ElliQ's locator: Elder Options (north central Florida) and ElderSource (the Jacksonville area). Floridians outside those areas go on a waitlist.
Also on ElliQ's own partner locator: Nevada (Lyon County Senior Services), Wisconsin (the ADRC of Dunn County and Inclusa), and New Jersey (Hudson County Division on Aging Services). That locator and your local Area Agency on Aging are the authoritative sources; if a local program is at capacity, approved applicants go on a waiting list.

A look inside the New York deployment described above, with an actual participant, so you can see what the free agency channel places in someone's home before you chase it.

Typical eligibility shape: 60+, living alone or socially isolated, resident of the covered area. Washington is the exception, since its channel runs on Medicaid eligibility rather than age and isolation. Programs are usually run through the same agencies that handle Meals on Wheels and senior services. If you know your county's Area Agency on Aging, start there.

An older woman stands in a doorway with her hand on the console table, laughing at the ElliQ sitting on it, which is the setup the eligibility rules above describe: one person, at home, with the unit plugged in on a side table. — What the agencies are actually placing: a plugged-in unit on a hallway table in someone's own home. Photo: Intuition Robotics

How to actually do this (the 20-minute version)

Call your county's Area Agency on Aging (national locator: the federal Eldercare Locator, 1-800-677-1116, call or text) and ask whether your state provides ElliQ or another companion robot through its aging programs. ElliQ itself will also route you to the right program: help@elliq.com or (855) 888-1295.
If yes: ask about eligibility, waitlist, and whether a family member can apply on a parent's behalf.
If no: ask what social-isolation programs they DO fund. Some agencies provide alternatives (companion pets, check-in services).
Only then decide whether retail ElliQ, about $720 to $960 for the first year (August 2026 pricing), is worth it for your situation. What it does and doesn't do, feature by feature: ElliQ, explained, with current pricing on the ElliQ tracker page.

Four-step infographic condensing this guide's path to a free ElliQ, under the line that six states give ElliQ free to qualifying older adults while retail runs $720 to $960 in year one: first call your Area Agency on Aging through the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 (call or text), or ElliQ's own line at (855) 888-1295 or help@elliq.com; second, if a program exists, ask three things, eligibility, the waitlist, and whether you can apply on a parent's behalf, with New York alone at 834 households enrolled against 3,500-plus applications in February 2026; third, if not, note that only six states have confirmed partners (NY, WA, FL, NV, WI, NJ) and ask what social-isolation help the agency does fund, such as companion pets and check-in services; and only then price out retail at $249 initiation plus $39 to $59 a month, roughly $720 to $960 the first year and $468 to $708 a year after that.

Does a companion robot actually help?

Fair question, and the evidence is better than the category's gadget reputation suggests: a 2025 meta-analysis in The Gerontologist found companion robots reduce loneliness in older adults with what the authors call a large effect (a pooled -0.59). It's not a replacement for human contact, and the agencies deploying these are explicit about that. But as a daily-structure and check-in layer, the data is real. We walk through the study, and where it's thin, in our companion robots for seniors guide.

A man sits in a lounge chair in his living room, books and a houseplant around him, with an ElliQ switched on atop the side table at his right, which is the whole intervention the loneliness research in this section measures: a device in the room, not a caregiver. — The thing being studied, in its usual position: on the side table, on, in the room. Photo: Intuition Robotics

Call the agency before you pull out a credit card. Worst case they say no, and you're back at retail with a clear conscience. If your state's program changed or we missed one, tell us and we'll update.

Related: Companion robots for seniors: a careful buyer's guide · Robot pets for elderly people: the calm buyer's guide · Full tracker