Jibo: a “social” robot for the whole family

About 30 years ago, many popularizers of science, as well as authors of NF works, believed that in our time robots will actively help people. But life's robotization, so to speak, is not at all as active as it was thought.

True, robots still gradually penetrate our lives. Smart microwaves, smart TVs, robotic vacuum cleaners, all of this already exists, and continues to evolve. True, you cannot communicate with such devices, but I would like to get a robot with whom you can talk, right?

And such a robot appeared. We are talking about the Jibo robot, the developers (the team are immigrants from MIT, Massachusetts University of Technology) who position it as the first social robot for the family.

What can a robot do?

Thanks to good technical equipment and appropriate software, Jibo is able, for example, to recognize all family members, and to each find its own approach;



The robot is sensitive to the mood of a person, and behaves accordingly, trying to support a person with a bad mood;

In addition to communication, Jibo can serve as an assistant, reporting on the received message of electronic sweat or SMS. The robot is equipped with wireless communication modules, and can read information from any device connected to it (at the request of the owner). At the same time, he notifies about the messages of the “right” people. In other words, the robot will not confuse the SMS that came to the daughter and father, and will not tell dad that “your cat is already waiting for you at the club”, for example;

Also, the robot can help in the kitchen, receiving information about a dish from the Network (the robot connects to the Internet, yes). Thus, the recipe can not be subtracted from the book, but ask Jibo about it;



Well, Jibo also entertains the owners quite well, demonstrating its location, making funny faces and playing music. A robot can tell a child a bedtime story, for example, or tell a funny joke to parents.

Technical equipment

Jibo is very well equipped, the developers took care of its hardware.

• Case material: aluminum, ABS plastic, glass;
• Display: LCD HD display;
• Movement: the robot is able to make movements along 3 axes, with rotation (we are talking about the head of the robot, it cannot move itself);
• Sensors: two color stereo cameras, circular sound localization, touch case and display;
• Sound: 2 high-quality speakers, advanced speaker system;
• Backlight: full range of LEDs;
• Communication Modules: WiFi and Bluetooth;
• Processor: ARM processor;
• English language;
• Sizes: height - 28 centimeters, width - 15 centimeters;
• Weight: 3 kilograms.

Of course, the Jibo robot is not the same robots that Azimov wrote about, with a developed intellect and a positron brain. Nevertheless, Jibo can communicate with the owner, the device establishes feedback with the person, and tries to adapt as accurately as possible for each person.

Price

Of course, the price of a robot cannot be low (considering at least its equipment and software). The developers rated their efforts at $ 499. You can order from manufacturers (shipping - no earlier than 2015), or pre-order from Medgadgets , at a price of 24,000 rubles.