Home robot Vector to be available in New Zealand stores

When people imagine what their daily lives will be like with robots, many take inspiration from sci-fi novels, television shows, and films with high-spirited characters like R2-D2 from “Star Wars” and Rosie in “The Jetsons”. Instead, the closest the world has come in the quest for affable, useful home robots are puck-like vacuum cleaners and lifeless cylindrical talking speakers. That’s about to change. 

Anki, the consumer robotics and artificial intelligence (A.I.) company made up of top roboticists, film animators, engineers, and game designers, is bringing the sci-fi future one step closer to reality with the announcement of Vector, its first home robot with personality. Fully autonomous, cloud-connected and always-on, Vector represents a major leap for consumer robotics in bringing accessible, life-like robots to millions of homes

Vector will be in stores in NZ on October 13th for NZ$499.99. It is available for presale now with a special offer of $50 off for a limited time period (NZ$449.99) at JB Hi-Fi. Vector will be also available through MightyApe.

“For over five years, Anki has brought together a team of experts across various fields to create the world’s first affordable, character-rich robot capable of surprising and delighting humans,” said Boris Sofman, CEO and co-founder of Anki. “Vector is the culmination of everything we’ve learned in this journey so far, and a bold next step in our vision for entertaining and purposeful robots in every home, everywhere.

“Today marks the starting point in an overall expansion for our robotics platform and how we combine the latest technologies in robotics and artificial intelligence with our novel approach to character and interface. For the first time, people will be living with a robot that is able to bring both a warm and joyful experience, and a new and characterful form of utility, into the home. This builds a bridge not just to a new category of home robots, but our own future product lines that will continue to expand on the level of capabilities that are possible."

Vector is a robot who’s alive with personality, highly-intelligent, and aware of his surroundings through touch, sight and sound. Unassertive and thoughtfully built, he is designed to fit naturally into your daily life as well as any space in your home, with minimal maintenance. Vector isn’t an appliance sitting in the corner waiting for you to flip a switch; he is an extension of your family who is excited for you to walk in the door each day. Vector is designed to complement your life. And because he’s cloud-connected and able to self-update, he’s always getting smarter and adding new features. Under that polished exterior, he’s chock-full of robotics and A.I. tech.

Alive with Personality

• Vector is fully autonomous, cloud-connected and always-on. While he is deceptively smart out of the box, he’ll only become smarter over time thanks to over-the-air (OTA) updates.
• Vector wears his heart on his sleeve and isn’t shy about showing it on his high-res colour IPS display. With around a thousand animations in Vector, he reacts to his environment in a way that’s not only full of personality but also meaningful. He even responds to human touch, thanks to the capacitive touch sensor built on his back.
• Vector’s got his head in the clouds but that doesn’t mean he’s living in a fantasy world. Tapping into the Ask Vector feature, he’ll provide instant answers to factual questions about real world people, places and things.
• Vector is more than just a robot sidekick. He can help you become more productive by helping out with simple tasks. Ask him for the weather before you head out for the day and he will answer you in his own, charming way. Cooking dinner? Setting a timer with Vector means no more overcooked meals in your future. You can even ask him to take a picture and he will intelligently frame the shot by recognising the faces in it.
• And just because Vector is a helpful robot doesn’t mean he can’t also have a little bit of fun. You can prompt him to play a game of Blackjack and he’ll even use his accessory Cube to play a handful of games with you. If he hears music, he may even dance to the beat.

Small Robot, Big Tech

• Vector’s brain is built on a Qualcomm Technologies’ platform which provides the connectivity, computing, camera and on-device A.I. capabilities that Vector needs to be smart, approachable and autonomous – without having to be tethered to a phone or requiring a permanent cloud connection.
• Vector is outfitted with an HD camera with 120° ultra-wide field of view that allows him to see the world, recognise people in the room, as well as learn the names of people he sees.
• Vector uses an array of four microphones to hear and detect commands from you and your family and friends around the home. Just say “hey Vector” to get his attention and voice a command.
• Vector already knows his limits. When he’s feeling tired or low on energy, he can locate and roll back to his charger. He is also equipped with four cliff sensors, which are infrared (I.R.) emitters situated under the corners and there to prevent Vector from falling off edges.
• Vector was designed with security and privacy in mind. We developed and incorporated security features that strengthen robot security and minimise data collection for privacy, so you can have a safe and secure experience when interacting with Vector. We care about user privacy, and do not store voice or audio in the cloud.

“Vector is spearheading a transformation in consumer robotics using Qualcomm Technologies’ innovations in heterogeneous compute, camera, A.I., and connectivity which allow for very small devices with exceptional intelligence, thermal efficiency, and battery life,” said Dev Singh, director of business development, robotics, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We are pleased to support Anki on its journey to evolve robots – going from utilitarian machines into smart, friendly and relatable companions that will bring joy to many people’s lives.”

Sofman added: “Our mission is now to apply the technology we’ve developed within the entertainment industry to create a future where humans and intelligent, general-purpose robots can live in a mutually beneficial way.”

While Vector is fully autonomous and always-on, a smart device running the companion app (available on iOS and Android) is required for initial setup.

A Vector SDK — based on the Python language — will be available to all Vector owners early next year. With the SDK, users will be able to harness Vector’s hardware and software technologies — from advanced facial recognition to a high-resolution colour screen — to augment their Vector experience in ways that no other consumer robotics platform offers.