Not sure how many of you remember the Cozmo robot, a tiny, extremely expressive contraption the world apparently hated hard enough to almost kick off the market. The thing kind of still if out there, in the hands of a company called Digital Dream Labs, but it’s soon going to get some competition of sorts.
Earlier this year, during what was the CES event, a company called Moorebot showed something called Scout. It’s a small robot, definitely less expressive than Cosmo, that can be used for more serious tasks than playing with cubes, like say spying on your parents in the middle of the night, or making sure you didn’t leave the water running while you’re away.
Moorebot calls this thing the “world-first autonomous home robot for intelligent surveillance." It’s 2.8 inches by 4 inches by 4.3 inches in size, and has all sorts of sensors and AI algorithms that allow it to “patrol” your home on pre-set routes.
The thing is equipped with a 1080 camera that can stream directly to your smartphone through a dedicated app, and is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. It can move outside its path to avoid obstacles if it encounters any, can recognize human bodies and pets, and is four-wheel-drive.
Scout runs on batteries which last 2.5 hours. It takes the robot an additional 3 hours to get up to full charge.
After the presentation at CES, Scout hit the online crowdfunding world on Kickstarter. It was listed there about a month ago, with a tiny goal of just $5,000. At the time of writing, there are over 2,000 backers for the project, who chipped in together about $340,000.
The smallest sum one can pay and get the robot in return is $139. Moorebot estimates it should make the first deliveries in June this year.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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