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Household Robot Jibo Nets Over $1 Million On Indiegogo

Posted by timothy on from the one-meeeelion-dollars dept.

mikejuk (1801200) writes After seven days the Jibo project has over $1.1 million. What is surprising is that Jibo isn't a complex piece of hardware that will do the dishes and pick up clothes. It doesn't move around at all. It just sits and interacts with the family using a camera, microphones and a voice. It is a social robot, the speciality of the founder, MIT's, Cynthia Breazeal. The idea is that this robot will be your friend, take photos, remind you of appointments, order takeaway and tell the kids a story. If you watch the promo video then you can't help but think that this is all too polished and the real thing will fall flat on its face when delivered. If it does work then worry about the hundreds of kids needing psychiatric counselling — shades of Robbie in I, Robot. Even if it is hopelessly hyped — there is a development system and I want one. It is the early days of the home computer all over again.

10 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. iHAL9000 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The first mental impression of this gizmo is that it looks like a HAL9000 video pickup as envisioned by Steve Jobs.

  2. Your plastic pal who is fun to be with? by OzPeter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It looks like that HHGTG is also being treated as a manual rather than as a warning.

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    1. Re:Your plastic pal who is fun to be with? by Jeremi · · Score: 3, Informative

      It looks like that HHGTG is also being treated as a manual rather than as a warning.

      HHGTTG was a manual.

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  3. Not really a robot by kamapuaa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The robot barely moves, you could pretty much just put a cell phone on a stand and run a Jibo app and it would be the same thing. Make a $100 stand that's capable of being articulated about by cell phone software, and you could do everything that's in this video.

    So while the youtube video is fun, what the company is really promising is a version of Siri that's far & away better than what Apple is capable of, delivered in less than a year and a half, on a budget far smaller than Apple's. I wish them the best but I'm sorry, I have to be a knee-jerk cynic.

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  4. Re:The summary is very confusing. by pitchpipe · · Score: 2

    I just want to be your friend.

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    Look where all this talking got us, baby.
  5. No problem by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    The kids are already on psy-counseling after they dropped their iPhone in the toilet.
    They'll never recover completely.

  6. Confused about 1.1 million amount by claar · · Score: 2

    Currently Indigogo says that 2,575 people have contributed $1,175,564 ($457 per person).

    But if you add up the people and amounts for the various perks, you get 330 people contributing $73,874 (223 per person).

    Can someone explain the difference?

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    1. Re: Confused about 1.1 million amount by tysonedwards · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sure, there are a lot of accounts created to prop up the sales numbers but aren't claiming rewards to otherwise make the project look more awesome. There is actual investors to this company, and they are likely looking for a return on their investment. Propping up their own campaign to make their company look more powzers to the media, thereby getting more presales doesn't exactly seem that far fetched. Either that or there are a lot of people who believe in what these guys are doing and don't want the product in the end.

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  7. Re:crap hardware by MindPrison · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah, it's the early days of home computers and this is nothing more than a "Speak and Spell".

    The TI Speak & Spell was incredibly sophisticated for its time, imagine a device in 1978 that had a character screen, plug-in vocabulary software modules, game apps, and of all things...could SPEAK OUT LOUD with sounds that where created by A speech synthesis processor instead of just samples. We didn't even have Commodore vic 20 or Commodore 64 by then, the Speak and Spell was an amazing piece of hardware. The speech synthesis chip TMS 5220 still blows me away with what it can do. You'll also find that chip (and it's siblings) inside various Arcade machines AND pinball machines, even more recent pinball machines.

    And just to top that off, that little portable "computer", lasts for YEARS on a single set of batteries using it several hours each month, and it's soft-switch technology! Not even cellphones handle that kind of standby times even with the network disconnected. Don't diss the TI S&S!

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  8. Now let's see how it really works ... by WankersRevenge · · Score: 2

    me: Hi Jibo
    It spins and spins.
    me: Over here. Over here. I'm standing here. Jibo. Stop spinning.
    jibo: would you like take out.
    me: no.
    jibo: how about sushi. Your favorite food.
    me:That's Lizzie's favorite.
    jibo: Ordering. Unable to comply. Please check your network settings.
    me: Cancel
    jibo: Please say that again. I did not understand.
    me: Reset. Stop.
    jibo: Want me to take a picture.
    me: No.
    jibo: Cheese. Hard drive full. Please delete some of your pictures.
    me: Stop taking pictures.
    jibo: taking picture. Cheese. Hard drive full. Please delete some of your pictures.
    me: Why did I buy this friggin thing?

    Seriously, compare the Kinnect promo videos to how it actually turned out. That's Jibo, except from an extremely well funded company. This is just snake-oil.