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Forget Siri or Google Now; they’re no match for a real personal assistant. As it turns out, a Boston-based entrepreneur realized this herself and created a robotic personal assistant that completely overshadows what came before.
The robot is called Jibo, and was developed by Dr. Cynthia Breaceal, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The good Dr. founded and directs the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media lab, so she’s no stranger to them.
The First “Family Robot”
The Jibo personal assistant is designed to be a “family robot,” and can do lots of cool things like take photos, announce alerts and reminders, and even interact with people.
“The mobile computing revolution has paved the way for social robots to come into the home, both from a technological price/performance perspective and a consumer readiness perspective. People are already talking to their smartphones and computers. They are anticipating that social robots for the home are coming soon.”
Unlike “traditional” robots, Jibo does not have any arms or legs; instead it operates as more of a pivoting sphere, complete with face tracking technology. It stands just eleven inches high and weighs a total of six pounds.
As referenced by the product page, Jibo has six core functions it can perform, which allow it to see, learn, speak, hear, help, and relate. However, it absolutely must be connected to an active internet connection through Wi-Fi.
“Jibo is a social robot that comes with a core set of skills. Jibo can perform these skills for you through natural and intuitive interaction — speech plus other inputs such as vision and touch. Jibo learns from interacting with you in the context of his skills to personalize them to you. Jibo also can learn who you are by recognizing your face and voice.”
Long story short: Jibo is equipped with speakers, a microphone, a camera, and more. It can also talk and learn from its owners, eventually providing more personalized interactions. While some are sure to revel in the idea of such an advanced personal assistant, others may find the notion off-putting.
Dr. Breaceal relied on the crowdfunding platform IndieGoGo to get Jibo up and running commercially. With an initial funding goal of $100,000, the project has far surpassed that with well over a million dollars and counting.
The consumer version of Jibo will cost a mere $499 at launch and can be shipped internationally. A developer version is also available for parties interested in producing apps and content for the device.
Secretaries and Personal Assistants Will Soon Be Obsolete
In the world of business, it not only pays to have good help but also to be at the cutting edge of technology. With a device like Jibo hitting the market sometime in December 2015, it won’t be long before human secretaries and personal assistants are obsolete. Just imagine a Jibo – or similar robotic device powered by an intelligent and learning AI – greeting customers at the door to your office. Sure, the concept may seem a little jarring now, but the world of tech was always headed in this direction. We all knew it was coming, and if you didn’t you’ve either been living in denial or under a rock.
Imagine a Jibo sitting at the Empire CAT office sharing oil sampling and testing information with potential clients. Better yet, think of a call center filled to the brim with these adaptive, intelligent robots.
The real question is how these advanced robotics will affect the world around us. More importantly, how will they affect the market and the roles we all play in it? The true answer is that the possibilities are endless and that’s certainly something to consider. Imagine devices like the Jibo in every business or every home.
Dr. Breaceal seems to believe that consumers are ready for “social robots to come into the home,” but this also brings up matters of privacy. If something like Jibo can track your movements and learn from you by collecting personal data, then it’s certainly possible that third parties could access that information remotely. What if one of these devices were to be used in a business that relies heavily on trade secrets? What kind of information could unscrupulous parties be able to access?
While the idea is certainly amazing and innovative, these are things we need to stop and consider – at least, while we still can. Robots are coming, and it’s going to change the world and the market right before our eyes.
