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Codi bot convinces your child to do the chores through singing at CES 2019

Pillar Learning Codi looks cute, tells stories and befriends your child while helping to reinforce positive habits.

Andrew Gebhart Former senior producer
2 min read
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Codi has lots of costumes. 

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Your child's new robot friend could prove surprisingly useful. Pillar Learning Codi is a cute little bot on display at CES 2019. It's small enough to fit in your arms, and has an antenna and ears that light up and change color. 

It's meant for your child, and through the app, you can prompt Codi to sing an educational song or tell a story. It even has a playlist of lullabies when it's time for bed. Codi connects to Wi-Fi, so its content list will keep growing, but it's battery powered, and you can download your favorites from any playlist so you can take it with you as you travel.

Better yet, Codi has songs to reinforce habits like brushing your teeth and cleaning up. Pillar Learning quietly launched the product late last year, and early feedback from parents has reinforced the idea that the songs really do help make chores fun for their kids. 

Watch this: Codi the robot will try to convince your kid that cleaning is fun at CES 2019

Codi's making its official debut at CES, and it's on sale now from the company's site for $100. You can also buy a variety of costumes -- my favorite was the dinosaur -- for $10 each or a pack of three for $25. 

Codi has a volume dial on the back and a few buttons on the front. One allows your child to give voice commands; Pillar Learning deliberately didn't want Codi to be an always-listening bot, so you have to hold the button to talk. Two other button allows you child to like and dislike a song or story so you can use that when picking what to play in the future.

If you're out of town, you can also leave a message that will play through Codi's speakers and your child can hit a button and respond.

Codi's definitely cute. I'm not sure it could convince me that chores are fun, but the other features could make it worth a look if your child would like a robot friend. 

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