Jibo is not the stereotypical robot with all those hands and legs that anyone would think of when reminded of a technological invention to help you at home. But it could probably be your new family member with a twist . MIT’s Media Lab Professor Cynthia Breazeal has rolled out the prototype for a freakishly simple but cute little robot that would help you at home with almost anything.
The latest video released by the creators shows Jibo as a small robot with a swiveling head that could rotate all 360 degrees and a free axis base. It employs facial tracking to follow you around the house. It could be of help to every member of the family and still be as unobtrusive as it could.
Some of the possible things that Jibo could do are to help you take pictures without using a camera. It has an inbuilt camera that would take pictures of your perfect family. It could help you buy take out food and also notify you about your personal messages. You no longer need to worry about your kids’ bed time stories.
It looks like the perfect companion at home with a simple user control without much fuss on the usual commands that ought to be given.
The project is still in its pilot stage and is heavily weighing its progress on the crowd funding campaign that has been started. Envisioned as a social robot the creator says,
“Social robots are designed to be helpful partners not useful tools. Jibo for the first time is combining this intelligence from AI and robotics with this helpfulness of a partner, along these skills, with this heart, this humanized experience…and bringing it all together into one product.”
To be shipped in the third quarter of next year, Jibo can be brought by customers for $499 with a hobbyist level SDK and the developers could buy it at $599 with a pro SDK.
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