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We have a clearance Clarence
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Baby grows, learns and can do many things. On the other hand this will always be just a little forklift. If lucky, in a next few generations, it will be able to scoop your pet’s poop
Think of Anki as a baby, learning and growing into a mature robotics company, I believe he’s not talking about Vector exclusively growing but the company as a whole growing, learning and doing more with each new product it develops.
 
A red flag goes up whenever someone tells me that I can trust them as part of their sales pitch. The "good robot" phrase is like a car salesman or mechanic saying they are "honest" or say "trust me" right up front.
Usually when you hear something like that they usually do the opposite to you. We learn this is a regular tactic in politics.
In today's vernacular that would be google or face book saying that protecting your private information is important to them and they will never sell your personal information.
 
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Or spend the money on a gym membership and meet REAL people. Ha ha. Only joking. How D'you switch it on again? Oh yeah. Funny. Little robot Speaks. Like human. Me like humans.Just not to talk to directly.
 
In my opinion, anyone that seems to buy this kind of useless consumer crap, cannot complain about Trump withdrawing from the Paris climate accords.

Consumerism, and the jobs require to obtain the money to support this consumerism, is no doubt a large factor in the strain that we are putting on the environment.

Here is another mindless little toy to keep us amused for a few hours before it makes its way to the scrapheap. Good job Silicon Valley!
 
I think the point will be you don’t need to control him at all.
He’ll be at your home, roaming around the ground floor, returning to his charger when needed, and if he hears a sound, he’ll go investigate, using the 4 microphones and various sensors to navigate to the source of the noise, then take photos/live stream and send you a notification.
Think I’ll get one for Xmas, for my little boy of course ;)
Preordered for my oldest for Christmas. Arrived on Tuesday. He’s gonna be stoked!
 
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anki-vector.jpg
 
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I couldn’t resist and got one. It doesn’t have a practical purpose but it does a pretty good job of being a pet and I don’t regret the purchase. Think of it as a much cheaper Aibo.
 
I’d pick this up for my kid for Christmas if it was more like $150 and if she didn’t have a little brother who will end up breaking it. She loves robots. We both think it’s really endearing and expressive. I feel that toys like this are laying the groundwork for much more useful robots in the future. You have to start somewhere!
 
How is this useful? Are people going to walk around their home with it? At least smart speakers have far reaching microphones that can hear and respond to commands from anywhere in the room.

Not to mention the agonizingly slow response times.
 
Wanted to try, but the problem is most of the time my work desk is not clean enough like in the ads video. It'll likely only stay in its charging dock.
 
Nah
Before Toy R Us closed you could walk in and pick up one of their older models called Cozmo

Target still sell the older model:
Cozmo

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Anki still make and sell 'ol Cozmo. There's a blue 2019 variant.

The main problem I have with Vector is that it's what Cozmo should have been from the start: Untethered autonomous (vs. Cozmo 'running' on iPhone).
Plus; Vector essentially benefits from re-using the Cozmo design/tooling, and can leverage a large part of the R&D.

I do like the Anki toys, but Cozmo doesn't meet the hype/expectations, and doesn't appear to deserve reciprocal bug fixes (they took out the self-charging)
 
I like the direction, but it is far too limited IMO. Also, the "smart speaker" feature is clunky requiring an extra step and has a noticeable delay. Alexa integration later in the year will be a necessary touch.

I like my Roomba, it can navigate my house, has a personality of sorts and cleans the floor. Perhaps if they put googly expressive eyes and a smart speaker into that my lizard brain and cold heart would be convinced it is a pet. But with things like this the marketing is always years ahead of the product. If only my little robot pal could fetch a pen or a fork, or nudge the TV remote over in an adorable way.
I do like the idea of a remote security guard filming things, keeping an eye on things.
 
I'd like a companion to my roomba. Something like the old 'Big Trak' (Showing my age) that can trundle around and pick up obstructions from the floor that Roomba would otherwise eat - socks, slippers, that kind of thing.
 
Amazes me people put so much effort into something that has zero purpose due to a) Fact a smart phone can provide all the smart features b) Limited movement, so unable go be a true robot.
c) If someone needs an artificial companion, they need help from family, friends or community.
What you're advocating is that unless something can be absolutely perfect, have every feature/ability, and have everything that it would need in the future, it's not worth doing at all.

As far as people needing an "artificial companion," what do you think your phone is?
 
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