insideKENT Magazine Issue 80 - November 2018 | Page 101
CHRISTMAS
insideKENT’S TOP GIFT FOR 2018:
Say Hey to VECTOR
ANKI’S HOME ROBOT WITH PERSONALITY
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 THE ICE HOCKEY PUCK-LIKE VACUUM CLEANERS AND LIFELESS CYLINDRICAL TALKING
SPEAKERS. THAT’S ABOUT TO CHANGE.
Today, Anki, the consumer robotics and artificial intelligence (A.I.)
company, which is 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 forward for
consumer robotics by bringing accessibly priced, life-like robots
to millions of homes.
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:
• 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.
• 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. • 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.
• 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 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’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 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. Anki
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.
Anki cares about user privacy, and
does not store voice or audio in
the cloud.
Vector retails for £249.99 and comes
with one base charger and one
interactive Cube. Whilst Vector is
fully autonomous and always on, a
smart device running the
companion app (available on
iOS and Android) is required for
initial setup.
www.anki.com
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