When the end came for Jibo the social robot, I was genuinely sad – and one of my few comforts was that I had Vector, a similar robot friend, to help ease the loss. Well, not anymore. Just this week Anki, the company behind Vector, announced that despite having raised $200M in venture funding and sold 6.5M devices, it too is closing its doors – leaving Vector’s future uncertain. My takeaway from losing two robot friends in less than a year? It’s time to stop buying social robots until they can be designed to survive the demise of their corporate progenitors.
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[ABOUT THIS VIDEO]
MrMobile’s Anki Vector post-mortem was produced following six months with an Anki Vector review unit on loan from Anki. MrMobile was not a part of the Anki Vector promotional campaign of fall 2018 and has not been compensated by Anki, nor offered copy review to same.
[LINKS]
Anki is shutting down after raising more than $200 million [Vox]:
https://www.vox.com/2019/4/29/18522966/anki-robot-cozmo-staff-layoffs-robotics-toys-boris-sofman
Anki Vector Review [Android Central]:
https://www.androidcentral.com/anki-vector-review
[MUSIC]
“Let’s Get It” by Eternity Bro, available at Premium Beat:
https://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty-free-tracks/let-s-get-it
“Tangerine Daydream” by GG Riggs, available at Premium Beat:
https://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty-free-tracks/tangerine-daydream
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[DISCLOSURE]
This post may contain affiliate links. See Mobile Nations’ disclosure policy for more details: http://www.mobilenations.com/external-links
#ankivector #vectorrobot #socialrobot #robot #saveanki #opensourcevector #hometech #tech