
Anki Vector: The Home Robot - tammer
https://www.anki.com/en-us/vector
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BugsJustFindMe
This is a mobile phone without a screen that doesn't make phone calls and
won't fit in your pocket. It's nothing more than a desk toy.

"Hey Vector" is just "Hey Google" or "Hey Siri" or "Hey Alexa". For a lot less
money you could just get a Google Home or Amazon Echo (Apple HomePod is a bit
more) and they provide more functionality without the useless wheels.

~~~
tjoff
Yet I would consider Vector by far the most useful product of them all.

~~~
0x8BADF00D
Disclaimer: I work for an engineering team at Anki

There’s also the privacy aspect of Vector. Anki respects your privacy because
your data isn’t used in the same way that it is by Google Home and Alexa (i.e.
for ad targeting)

~~~
Ancalagon
Hows the work/life there? I briefly considered applying but havent gotten
around to it.

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wodenokoto
Standupmaths, from recent front page fame got sponsored to do a video on
Vector, and it appears to be mostly a cross between a virtual assistant, like
Alexis and a robot pet, like sony Aibo, with a form factor inspired by wall-e.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ahdOqe5qBk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ahdOqe5qBk)

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boltzmannbrain
"Smart enough to take over the world. Nice enough not to."

<rolls eyes>... So how smart?

"Weather, timer, take a photo, blackjack."

Ha, must be $5. Or $10, it's kinda cute.

"$249.99"

Piss off.

"Super smart AI, safely programmed one notch below too smart."

Yeah, if it could keep a calendar, man that'd be dangerous.

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Eduardo3rd
“Needed at home - USB Power Adapter 5V, 1A or greater”

It’s a $250 device that doesn’t include a plug for the charger. I don’t know
if that’s an effort to save money or reduce waste, but either way it strikes
me as a way to guarantee a subset of customers are annoyed in their first 30
minutes of using the product.

What am I missing here?

~~~
codezero
I think they are working on the assumption most who would buy this device have
extras.

~~~
JohnHaugeland
they're twenty cents in bulk. it's a bad assumption

~~~
delecti
I just recently moved and I was astonished at how many superfluous cables and
adapters I had. I definitely appreciate not getting more when I can reasonably
be expected to have ones already. I have easily a dozen unoccupied USB ports
within 10 feet of me.

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Semaphor
So, what is this? 2018 furby? The site has no information.

~~~
cptnapalm
It's the same people who put out the nearly identical looking Cozmo a couple
of years ago. Same thing, but apparently can hear now.

~~~
ogaj
Curiously... there don't appear to be any FCC registrations for the new
device: [https://fccid.io/2AAIC](https://fccid.io/2AAIC)

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Animats
It's safe because it doesn't do anything?

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bouvin
Techmoan was not overly impressed: [https://youtu.be/is-
rSK5y6EQ](https://youtu.be/is-rSK5y6EQ)

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rsp1984
Does anyone have any information about how Anki is doing as a company? They
have raised almost $200m. Are their products selling well?

~~~
DecayingOrganic
It seems like they have sold 1.5m [0] robots so far.

[0]: [https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/08/anki-has-
sold-1-5-million-...](https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/08/anki-has-
sold-1-5-million-cozmo-robots)

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bryanrasmussen
Ok how's this for cute:
[https://www.nabaztag.com/#karotz](https://www.nabaztag.com/#karotz)

These things really make me mad - the nabaztag I mean, because of the wasted
potential. I bought one, my kid loved it, it's super cute wonderful. The api
sucks, most of the things didn't work, it has a built in RSS reader
(evidently, but the RSS reader supposedly works by compiling the feed down
into an application and downloading that and executing it and none of the
feeds I tried to get to work [that they recommended] ever worked).
aaaarggghhh, really the design of the thing is wonderful. It should take over
the world, by the design, but the functionality made it so it didn't do so.

I mean I hate it so much and I am still tempted to buy a new one despite the
things that were messed up because 1. those things that were messed up might
be fixed by now, they were not insurmountable. Some of them were really the
easy bits. 2\. the things that did work showed just really good design ideas.

I want one again, but I also want not to feel screwed over.

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splatt
The comments on their youtube video seem fake.

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zan2434
I don't understand. How does it respond to your queries? For weather it seems
to animate little rain droplets on the screen, but in the example: "what's an
epsilon?" they never show it actually answering.

~~~
icebraining
They have it speak in the video ("Hey there").

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syntaxing
I've been following this since it's been announced and it is a really cool
idea. But I agree with most of the people here that there is a limited sense
of practicality for this product. The only thing I can see this being useful
for is for education purposes. This would be great for schools, especially
middle and high school. I even used a mindstorm for one of my graduate
classes/lab to write our own algorithms (in nxc).

~~~
darepublic
Perhaps its ultimate usefulness might be augmented by people writing
functionality using the SDK. Considering that it has wheels and is mobile (I
assume) maybe the potential functionality is greater than that of stationary
home assistants? I like the idea of a robot that has a few core features, a
lot of potential functionality, and a solid SDK platform on which people can
harness that potential. Don't know if this will live up to that notion but I
find it interesting.

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sharpercoder
I have now spent a few minutes on the website. I'm confused on to what robot
it is offering? And what utility that robot then offers? In the video I see
multiple robots. I don't see the robot actually offering any value. I'd love
to spend money on a robot, but I have no idea why I would spend money on this
thing (things?)

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herbst
Now I am curious what you would expect from a robot? As far as I can tell most
'home robots' will be more or less Toys for the coming years at least.

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beeskneecaps
Vector, call 911. Beep beep beep. 911, what’s the problem? Beep beep beep.

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notafraudster
This is probably the single worst sales pitch I've ever seen for a superfluous
IOT product. Is this intended for public consumption?

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kwhitefoot
What does it do?

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scottlegrand2
Conclusively solves the problem of having too much cash lying around. It also
adds a new thing to trip on at night for no additional charge!

Order now, supplies are limited...

