Joji

Somehow I haven’t seen any other posts about this on Tumblr so far, but a company called Anki is making a small “home robot” called Vector.

It’s the successor to Anki’s Cozmo, a similar robot they released a few years ago aimed more at a younger audience, and which needed a smartphone for it’s “brain”. But unlike Cozmo, Vector doesn’t need a smartphone since he’s pretty much got a smartphone built inside of him, and is always on & fully autonomous.

He can recognize faces, tell you the weather, set a timer, and take a picture with his front camera. You can also ask him other questions like you would a voice assistant and he’ll give you an answer.

Also did I mention has touch sensors on top of him so you can pet him?

You won’t have to wait very long to get him either because Vector is releasing in October!  Anki recently finished a successful Kickstarter to pre-order him, but you can still pre-order Vector over on their official site, and also read more info about him: https://www.anki.com/en-us/vector 

He’s retailing for $249.99 at launch, but you can get him cheaper (little over $200) if you pre-order now. That might still be a bit pricey for some, but it’s cheaper than most quality smartphones these days, and certainly less expensive than other home robots on the market right now.

If you’ve ever dreamed of have a real robot in in your house without breaking the bank, you should support Anki and help give Vector a good home. He may be a small robot, but he might be the next big leap in robotics!