[MUSIC]
This is Jibo, he's a social robot crowdfunded and created by the Boston based startup of the same name.
At $899, Jibo is not Not cheap and he does a lot less than you'd expect.
[UNKNOWN] sits at 12" tall, weighs nine pounds and has a 5" rectangular colored display.
[UNKNOWN] can retrieve info like weather, sport scores or flight status.
He can also dance and tell some pretty corny jokes.
[UNKNOWN] takes photos with two front facing cameras and can store 700 images locally.
He hears voices and sounds via six microphones and can learn 16 faces and voices.
Stored in JIBO's loop, a group of users in the JIBO app.
JIBO is engineered strictly as a social robot.
He's not meant to rival Google or Alexa.
There's a much bigger emphasis on personality here.
JIBO feels much more human than Google, Alexa, or Siri, but ultimately less helpful.
The team behind Juvo is vetting on future generations valuing personality and seeing AI interaction as a part of every day life.
And that makes sense given how many kids today are learning to interact with assistants like Alexa but at Juvo's price point he should be more practical.
There are some big things Juvo can't do yet.
There's no calling, music or video streaming and Juvo can't sync to your phone to grab reminders or calendar events.
These features might eventually make their way to [UNKNOWN].
But for now, functionality is limited.
However, [UNKNOWN] is compatible with IFTTT triggers and can turn your Phillips Hue lights on or off, and adjust your Nest thermostat.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to [UNKNOWN] animations and personality.
I found [UNKNOWN] to be mostly charming and lovable, but several of my coworkers felt his proactive interaction was a bit creepy.
If you can stomach a 900 dollar robot companion Gibo has personality and potential.
He and other pricey robot pals are making their way to market this year.
So who knows, social robots might just be the friends of the future but at this price point, Gibo is not there yet.
Hey Gibo, why did I pay 900 dollars for you?
That is one thing I don't have an answer to.
[MUSIC]
