Many companies want to build the “killer app” for personal robots, sell millions of them, and then create a platform for others to build more. This “the iPhone strategy” seems to be doomed to failure because robots are not cellular phones, email, or web browsing.
Both Jibo and Kuri sought to sell a product to mass consumers with the belief that they had found the “killer apps”. Those were thought to be social interaction (Jibo) and live streamed video/photos in the home (Kuri).
In the past two months, Mayfield Robotics, makers of Kuri the robot, has shut down sales and operations, and Jibo, which has run through more than $70 million of venture funding, announced a significant downsizing of the company.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s Hard to Deactivate a Robot That’s Begging For its Life
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/its-hard-to-deactivate-a-robot-thats-begging-for-its-life
It’s bad enough when your pet robot rock stops working or when your pet robot dog sparks its last, but it’s even worse when a robot tells you it’s scared of the dark and begs you not to turn it off.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Therapy Robot Teaches Social Skills to Children With Autism
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/robot-therapy-for-autism
For some children with autism, interacting with other people can be an uncomfortable, mystifying experience. Feeling overwhelmed with face-to-face interaction, such children may find it difficult to focus their attention and learn social skills from their teachers and therapists—the very people charged with helping them learn to socially adapt.
What these children need, say some researchers, is a robot: a cute, tech-based intermediary, with a body, that can teach them how to more comfortably interact with their fellow humans.