US based robotics company, Anki, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $US0.5m ahead of plans to launch a robot companion for the home, dubbed Vector, and has promised it will go on sale in Australia for $A450 in October.
Vector, which resembles a miniature bulldozer, is billed as “a robot who’s alive with personality, highly-intelligent, and aware of his surroundings through touch, sight and sound … [and] designed to fit naturally into your daily life as well as any space in your home, with minimal maintenance.”
Also, Anki says, a Python based will be available to all Vector owners early next year that will enable users to “harness Vector’s hardware and software technologies — from advanced facial recognition to a high-resolution colour screen — to augment their Vector experience in ways that no other consumer robotics platform offers.”
Vector can perform some useful functions — acting as a timer, answering questions about the weather, and anything else it can gather from the Internet —but his main function seems to be entertainment and robotic companionship.
According to Anki CEO Boris Sophman, in a promotional video for Vector “He is a character who is meant to live in your home … He is alive.”
Anki co-founder and president, Hanns Tappeiner, said: “The idea is that vector becomes part of the family of that home both on the character side an on the utility side.”
Vector is billed as “The first robot that uses deep neural networks to do a lot of perception and understanding of the world around him.”
According to Anki, for the first time, people will be living with a robot that is able to bring both a warm and joyful experience, and a new and characterful form of utility, into the home.
This, it says “builds a bridge not just to a new category of home robots, but our own future product lines that will continue to expand on the level of capabilities that are possible.”
Vector will be available in Australia from JB HiFi, Australian Geographic and Amazon. It can be pre-ordered from JB HiFi for $400.
