Jibo is a friendly robot that uses facial recognition and natural language processing to offer personal assistance in the home, and perhaps become a new member of the family.
Smart homes are becoming big business, and there is a real need for a single interface to control and interact with the plethora of smart, Internet of Things devices now appearing on the market. Both Amazon and Apple have their own offerings (the Alexa-powered Echo and the Siri-powered Apple TV), but even their biggest fans would admit that neither device is particularly characterful. Jibo, on the other hand, is a friendly robot that uses facial recognition and natural language processing to offer assistance in the home with a strong emphasis on character and personality. Jibo might say things like, ‘Hey, my name’s Jibo, but between you and me I’ve always felt more like a Sagittarius. Or maybe a penguin.’
Created by social robotics pioneer and MIT professor Dr Cynthia Breazeal, the robot looks similar to Pixar’s animated lamp and is designed to elicit the same fuzzy feelings. Behind its circular face are two hi-res cameras, 360-degree microphones, a speaker, an on-board computer, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Jibo learns what its owners’ faces look like, as well as their voices, so it knows who is speaking to it and who it’s addressing in its Siri/Alexa-like natural voice. It can also sync and interface with other smart appliances and learn homeowners’ preferences and daily habits.
The robot has been designed to be social. Users can call on it to take photos or video of special family moments and it tracks body movement and facial expressions to make sure that everyone’s in the shot and looks happy. It can also give out personalized reminders depending on who’s in the room, and read bedtime stories complete with sound effects and matching graphics. Significantly, it can also place orders for food and goods on request. Jibo is responsive and uses its swivelling base to make sure that it faces family members before speaking. While many companies and labs have been working on humanoid robotics for decades, Jibo is notable for these anthropomorphic behaviours.
Jibo raised just over $3.7 million on Indiegogo in 2014, with a scheduled release date of ‘Holiday 2015’. However, production appears to have been problematic and in August 2016 it was announced that orders from all customers outside the United States and Canada were to be cancelled and fully refunded. The reason offered for this was that there were ‘more issues with Jibo’s ability to understand accented English than we view as acceptable’. They also point to ‘rapidly changing consumer-privacy laws’ as a reason for the cancellations and delays, which are obviously pertinent for an always-on device equipped with cameras, microphones and access to smart devices around the home. Since work began on Jibo, the European Union’s Safe Harbour data-transfer agreement has been scrapped and replaced by the EU–US Privacy Shield, and new data protection rules (GDPR) have been agreed for 2018.
The team proposes that the solution is to create ‘fully localized’ versions of the robot, with local servers, and they ‘plan to expand to some international markets in late 2017’, although followers of the project are understandably sceptical. However, following an investment of $25.3 million in Series A funding in January 2015, the project received a further $11 million later that year from a number of Asian investors to facilitate delivery to Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese markets. This may mean that there are still real plans to expand into Asia in the near future.
Production issues and delays aside, the original Jibo Indiegogo project had over 7,000 backers, and there remains a real demand for a home assistant that is more than purely functional. It is hoped that Jibo can still deliver on its original promise in the United States and beyond but, if not, is it only a matter of time before someone else does?
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Website: www.myjibo.com
Contact: info@myjibo.com
Innovator: Dr Cynthia Breazeal
Innovation name: Jibo
Countries: United States
Industries: Entertainment & culture / Home & garden