By Luke Villapaz@lukeydukeyl.villapaz@ibtimes.com
July 16 2014 9:17 AM
Social robots may become part of the household in the near future with the help of a small family robot called Jibo.
The vision of Cynthia Breazeal, director of the Personal Robots Group at MIT Media Lab, came to life Wednesday with the unveiling of her latest endeavor, the Jibo family robot, developed by Jibo Inc., which she founded.
Standing a mere 11 inches tall and weighing just 6 pounds, Jibo is small robot, which Breazeal hopes will help it become the bridge between robotics and the home.
“It’s hard for people to imagine having a 4-foot humanoid in their home,” Breazeal told International Business Times.
Out of the box Jibo has the ability to learn about the people around it and recognize different voices and faces. This is used by Jibo to interact with its users, whether it’s through conversation or coordinating a specific task such as sorting through voice messages.
Initially, Jibo will take on a few roles such as a personal photographer, messenger, storyteller, companion and a video-chat avatar.
While that might sound somewhat limited, Breazeal notes that machine learning and artificial intelligence are often improved when limited to specific tasks or boundaries. With that in mind, Jibo wasn’t designed to take the place of humans but complement human relationships.
“Jibo doesn’t replace people and human relationships; rather it is designed to support, complement and extend what we need from others in an affordable, effective and delightful way so that we can succeed, thrive and grow,” Breazeal said.
But that doesn’t mean that Jibo’s skillsets won’t grow as the technology matures.
Jibo Inc. plans to expand Jibo’s abilities through both in-house software updates and third-party features developed through the JiboAlive software development kit (SDK) program.
Jibo isn’t in retail stores just yet, but Jibo Inc. aims for the product's first limited run to ship during the 2015 Christmas holiday for $499, with preorders requiring a minimum deposit of $99.
While the consumer model also comes with the JiboAlive SDK, developers can choose the $599 developer package, which also includes additional support and earlier access to Jibo in the fall of 2015.
http://www.ibtimes.com/jibo-social-r...family-1629764
July 16 2014 9:17 AM
Social robots may become part of the household in the near future with the help of a small family robot called Jibo.
The vision of Cynthia Breazeal, director of the Personal Robots Group at MIT Media Lab, came to life Wednesday with the unveiling of her latest endeavor, the Jibo family robot, developed by Jibo Inc., which she founded.
Standing a mere 11 inches tall and weighing just 6 pounds, Jibo is small robot, which Breazeal hopes will help it become the bridge between robotics and the home.
“It’s hard for people to imagine having a 4-foot humanoid in their home,” Breazeal told International Business Times.
Out of the box Jibo has the ability to learn about the people around it and recognize different voices and faces. This is used by Jibo to interact with its users, whether it’s through conversation or coordinating a specific task such as sorting through voice messages.
Initially, Jibo will take on a few roles such as a personal photographer, messenger, storyteller, companion and a video-chat avatar.
While that might sound somewhat limited, Breazeal notes that machine learning and artificial intelligence are often improved when limited to specific tasks or boundaries. With that in mind, Jibo wasn’t designed to take the place of humans but complement human relationships.
“Jibo doesn’t replace people and human relationships; rather it is designed to support, complement and extend what we need from others in an affordable, effective and delightful way so that we can succeed, thrive and grow,” Breazeal said.
But that doesn’t mean that Jibo’s skillsets won’t grow as the technology matures.
Jibo Inc. plans to expand Jibo’s abilities through both in-house software updates and third-party features developed through the JiboAlive software development kit (SDK) program.
Jibo isn’t in retail stores just yet, but Jibo Inc. aims for the product's first limited run to ship during the 2015 Christmas holiday for $499, with preorders requiring a minimum deposit of $99.
While the consumer model also comes with the JiboAlive SDK, developers can choose the $599 developer package, which also includes additional support and earlier access to Jibo in the fall of 2015.
http://www.ibtimes.com/jibo-social-r...family-1629764
Comment