In addition to anthropomorphic physical appearance, service robots, powered by cutting-edge technologies such as generative AI and artificial psychology, exhibit new anthropomorphic emotional characteristics by mimicking empathetic responses found in human-human interactions. Through the lens of the Social Presence Theory, this paper examines the impact of service robot anthropomorphism, including the external humanlike appearance and internal artificial empathy, on consumers’ human-robot value co-creation intention. The research conducts three scenario-based experiments. The findings reveal that both humanlike appearance and artificial empathy in service robots have an interaction effect on consumers’ human-robot value co-creation intention, and consumer-perceived social presence plays a mediating role in this interaction effect. Furthermore, consumers with higher demand for social interaction have a stronger promoting effect of social presence on their human-robot value co-creation intention. This paper clarifies the psychological and behavioral mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of human-robot value co-creation in the context of anthropomorphic design of service robots embedded with new technologies. It also offers valuable insights for firms on how to better incorporate service robots into service settings to provide improved service practices.