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Anki, the Robotics and AI Company, is Shutting Down

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The producers of cute little robots that were credited to teach the children how to code, Anki, has announced that it is going to cease all its operations by 1st May, as a result of lack of finances to fund its future products.

Anki is a decade old company, which is famous for its robots Vector and Cozmo, Vector being the latest product the company had launched last fall. With the popularity of Anki’s robots, getting convinced about the news of Anki’s shut down is quite unbelievable, but according to the reports the company had already informed its employees, about the same, a few days ago.

anki shuts down
Image Source: digitaltrends.com

Noticeably, the company had raised over $200 millions from its investors, and its revenues had approached $100 million in 2017. In fact, Vector had received $2 million in funding through a Kickstarter campaign, last fall, and also, the Anki products had received the Alexa integration just recently. Despite all those highs, the company has to see the lows now.

During the shutdown, the company will be laying off 200 of its employees, providing them with a week’s salary as the compensation. The CEO of the company, Boris Sofman, broke the news to the employees on Monday and confirmed that the company has failed to raise the money for the company after a new round of financing fell through.

“It is with a heavy heart to announce that Anki will be letting go of our employees, effective Wednesday. We’ve shipped millions of units of product and left customers happy all over the world while building some of the most incredible technologies pointed toward a future with diverse AI and robotics driven applications. But without significant funding to support a hardware and software business and bridge to our long-term product roadmap, it is simply not feasible at this time. Despite our past successes, we pursued every financial avenue to fund our future product development and expand on our platforms. A significant financial deal at a late stage fell through with a strategic investor, and we were not able to reach an agreement. We’re doing our best to take care of every single employee and their families, and our management team continues to explore all options available.” the company said in a statement.

Even though the company had seen success as a robotics company, and the time it had launched its first product, it was a big deal to have an Anki robot, after ten years the company is seen as a toy company, which might be a reason for the company being not able to raise the required funds.

Contradicting to that Sofman said, “For us, it was never meant to be a toy company or even an entertainment company. It’s a robotics and AI company.”

Though companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Comcast had come in front with the intentions to acquire Anki, the company will still have to shut down this Wednesday.

Vector: Anki’s New Smart Home Robot

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Vector Robot
Image Source: newatlas.com

Artificial Intelligence has inspired many Sci-fi Hollywood films. This time you can say that Anki (Robots and Artificial Intelligence Products manufacturing company) has been inspired by a fictional robot from the science fiction Star Wars. After Anki Drive and Cozmo, Anki has launched its new home robot named Vector which is quite similar to the fictional robot Droid in the movie Star Wars.

Vector is said to be as the elder sibling of Cozmo as it has got additional features. Like Cozmo, it is a tiny robot that can fit into your palm. Vector is like a home robot that will roam around and will give you the feel of a pet. This tiny robot is launched on 8 August 2018, on Kickstarter. It costs near $249 and will be available at a discount for the early buyers. The early-buyer campaign will start on 6 September and will last till 30 September. Vector is on the costly side as Cozmo priced $180, as it is smarter than Cosmo.

1) Look and Size: Vector is a small robot having a height of three inches and can easily fit into your palm. It has got an arm through which it can lift lightweight objects and can respond to your commands. It is so small that sometimes you can miss it on the floor, so it must be allowed to wander on the table or shelves to avoid any kind of damage.

2) No Device Connected: You just need to connect Vector with wifi and rest is on its own. It does not need any tethering device to control it. It is equipped with the 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and is fully autonomous.

3) Designed to Learn: Vector is self-sufficient as it is designed to learn. It is must be kept on all the time so that it walk around and examine things. It will go to the new things it sees, look at them, will try to push and will investigate to know more about them.

4) Functionality: This tiny robot uses its four microphones to figure out the commands, and responds in its robotic voice. With the help of its 120-degree HD camera, it captures the faces and can recognise them later. It can call your name and will respond to your hello. You can ask it about the weather or about some new and it will give you the right answers.

Vector is smarter, yet has got an emotional quotient, as it was designed in the way that people focus on its personality, more than its functionality. Vector can behave like your pet and will play around with you just like Coszmo does. It is respondent to its owner and whirls around when called by him. Also with its touch sensors, it recognises the touch of its owner. It can also make direct eye contact with its high-resolution IPS display that gives a lively feel to its activities. It has got tank-like tread to walk and is rounded out by a 6-Axis IMU.

All in all, Vector is a complete package of a home robot that will roam around and gives you the feel of a companion around you. The robot will be shipped in the October of this year to the backers and its official release date will be October 12, 2018.