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 101