Anki Drive AI-Controlled Cars Will Be Available on October 23 for $199

[notjustjay]

I think it's an impressive demo of technology, but as a product I don't see the point. It looks like something that will be fun for 10 minutes.

People old enough to understand the technology will think its cool. Kids who grew up on video games will think its boring, and they'll just wind up playing with the cars like matchbox cars and they'll just wind up broken the day the box is opened!

I think a bunch of you aren't understanding just how sophisticated these little cars are.

I think that's pretty much the issue. It is clear from the comments in this thread that some people don't understand what's REALLY going on under the hood. "So what, it's just cars going around a track." Well, no, it's WAY WAY more than that. I did my Master's thesis on machine learning and my fourth year engineering project was on a team of people working with an autonomous robotic vehicle. So I get what's going on under the hood and it's VERY impressive to me that they were able to package this in a complete real-world, nuts-and-bolts product. As someone earlier in the thread said, "iOS beat Google to self-driving cars!"

But on the other hand, I'm just not sure how fun that game will be and how successful it will be as a consumer product. Imagine Ford released a new vehicle that could only be self-driven to a few specific locations. On the one hand, it would be an incredible breakthrough in technology. On the other hand, how many of us would actually buy one?

Maybe they don't care though. I suspect they are so enthusiastic about the research and the potential behind the toy that they're going to charge ahead and keep on researching and experimenting and developing this technology. Selling toys is just a welcome side business. I'm very intrigued to see where this might lead in the next few years.

 

[jpine]

Does anyone have an idea as to how big the track is?

 

[mdelvecchio]

i cant believe im even responding to this stuff, but here we go...

Looks like a toy....

it IS a toy. durr.

Maybe i'm missing something, but these look the typical remote controlled cars i as a kid on a trace track, but instead have camera bult in so they can steel by themselves without a remote....

youre mis-remembering. the toy cars on a track (Tyco) didnt have steering remotes -- you could only control the speed. thats it.

Whats the practical use for these in the real world ? or this is all they do?

it's a TOY. T-O-Y.

really, people?

 

[jpine]

Never mind. I found it. It's 3.5 feet x 8.5 feet. That's bigger than I thought it would be.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Some people will buy it for a Christmas gift.... And it'll be neat for a few days but ultimately these things will just end up in storage on top of the Wii Fit.

thats what happens with kids toys -- they play with them until they lose interest. no different than all the other crap i had as a kid.

 

[CausticPuppy]

I think that's pretty much the issue. It is clear from the comments in this thread that some people don't understand what's REALLY going on under the hood. "So what, it's just cars going around a track." Well, no, it's WAY WAY more than that. I did my Master's thesis on machine learning and my fourth year engineering project was on a team of people working with an autonomous robotic vehicle. So I get what's going on under the hood and it's VERY impressive to me that they were able to package this in a complete real-world, nuts-and-bolts product. As someone earlier in the thread said, "iOS beat Google to self-driving cars!"

....but to a kid, it's just cars going around a track.

Now if they made the software open, and offered an SDK or a programming interface (think Lego Mindstorms) then there would be a whole new market of geek tinkerers buying the things.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

whoopdee fricken doo...

I'm going to create a wireless device that you apply paint to, then watch it dry in realtime via a custom app on my iPhone... it's going to be totally awesome! Oh, and it will cost $199... a bargain for those that love watching paint dry.

I know, it's a toy but really? $200?

 

[mercurysquad]

What do you guys think about the iPhone controlled paper airplane?

http://www.poweruptoys.com/pages/app-toys

 

[Dontazemebro]

I bet all those whining about the price tag are the same ones that have a plethora of over priced Mac books and Apple gear just laying around the house.

This is a great piece of tech that's never been done before, I don't think the asking price is too much. Then again I just remembered how whiney some Apple users are

 

[Dontazemebro]

As someone earlier in the thread said, "iOS beat Google to self-driving cars!"
.

Well, actually not really. You gotta be pretty quick to one up Google.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car

 

[osaga]

I think the practical applications are obvious. Autonomous cars! Watch Minority Report again...

This is a money grab. They received $50 million in venture funding. If they made $100 off of each set, they'd need to sell 500,000 sets to pay back investors. Zero chance of that happening. But you have three robotics PHD's, and perhaps they've developed some software that may be valuable to a company like Google. In which case they're looking to be bought out. These dudes may be smart but they obviously lack vision. You can tell by looking at the website that they don't "get it".

 

[notjustjay]

This is a money grab. They received $50 million in venture funding. If they made $100 off of each set, they'd need to sell 500,000 sets to pay back investors. Zero chance of that happening. But you have three robotics PHD's, and perhaps they've developed some software that may be valuable to a company like Google. In which case they're looking to be bought out. These dudes may be smart but they obviously lack vision. You can tell by looking at the website that they don't "get it".

On the other hand, the fact that they have matured the research enough to be viable in a consumer product might just be of interest to some large company that might want to snap them up.

 

[Nevaborn]

I think it's an impressive demo of technology, but as a product I don't see the point. It looks like something that will be fun for 10 minutes.

People old enough to understand the technology will think its cool. Kids who grew up on video games will think its boring, and they'll just wind up playing with the cars like matchbox cars and they'll just wind up broken the day the box is opened!

It is cool , but too pricey and limited in execution

 

[adbe]

whoopdee fricken doo...

I'm going to create a wireless device that you apply paint to, then watch it dry in realtime via a custom app on my iPhone... it's going to be totally awesome! Oh, and it will cost $199... a bargain for those that love watching paint dry.

I know, it's a toy but really? $200?

The basic Scalextric kit sells for $100, this sells for $200 and is clearly a league above Scalextric. I'm really not seeing the hate here.

For people that like the idea of games that exist in the real world rather than on screen, this is cool both in itself and as a promise of things to come.

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This is a money grab. They received $50 million in venture funding. If they made $100 off of each set, they'd need to sell 500,000 sets to pay back investors. Zero chance of that happening.

You think world wide there's really no hope for them to sell half a million units?

You're also making a hell of a lot of assumptions. Firstly, you have no idea how quickly those investors expect to see that money. Secondly, you're assuming that this is the only product they'll ever make with this technology.

 

[taptic]

I don't know, depends on whether you want a 24 month contract too.

Take it with a grain of salt...

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

A lot of people keep bringing up "RC Cars" and that you would rather by them.

Please tell me, what kind of RC Cars are you talking about? Ones like this: http://www.amainhobbies.com/product...-TEN-SCTE-20-Competition-4WD-Short-Course-Kit that don't even come with a motor, battery or Electronic Speed Control, where you are easily spending around $800 just to go race?

Doesn't seem that expensive anymore if you don't say which RC Cars you're talking about.

Just saying I do race these kind of RC Cars and I have spent over $1,000 easily on all my stuff

Amen to that.

It'd cost me well over a grand, per truck, to build a Tamiya Clodbuster up to racing spec. At that point, the only stock parts were the gearboxes. Add to that over a grand in support equipment. So that works out to about a $2000 entry fee, and then another $1000 per vehicle after that. With heats being 4 minutes, it makes for a long day if you don't field multiple vehicles.

The radio control racing comparison is pretty thin to begin with, but it completely dissipates when you take actual costs into account. These are much closer to slot cars. If you take inflation into account, these really aren't off the mark in price.

 

[kudukudu]

I am a little annoyed by the brevity of the supported devices list. I guess they are only willing to support IOS 7. I don't know about all of you, but I like to pass my older devices down to my children. I would like it if my child could run this thing from an ipod touch 4 for example (which is limited to IOS 6).

Anki DRIVE is only compatible with the following devices:

iPhone® 4s*
iPhone 5*
iPhone 5c
iPhone 5s
iPod® Touch 5th generation*
iPad® Mini*
iPad 3rd generation*
iPad 4th generation*

 

[prowlmedia]

Are there people who are at work but not doing "pro work"? What is a "pro job"?

Pretty sure "Pro" is just a marketing term for more power electronics. (I have a MacBook Pro and use it for work, but have never felt the need to stress the "pro" when descibiing my profession)

A pro is someone that doesn't make pointless comments about a toy car having a thunderbolt connection or not.