What is Cozmo? Only the coolest robot ever invented, so say Anki, the robot’s creators.
As you can see in the video above, this is a robot that mixes the emotional intelligence of Wall-E (of Disney Pixar fame) with something you can actually buy and soon own, and hold in the palm of your hand.
At a superficial level, Cozmo appears to be a small robot with tracks and a lifting apparatus that can lift up small power cubes (supplied with the robot). However, Anki says Cozmo is a lot more than that.
Beneath the surface, Cozmo is said to be much more. Anki says it learns, becomes curious, and explores, playing games with you, getting to know you, and more. Cozmo even has (what appears to be) an OLED powered facial display to show you emotions, and to become a much valued friend / toy (but don’t tell him he’s a toy).
Cozmo is launching in a few months — in October 2016, to be precise — for $159.99 on pre-order, or $179.99 when shipping starts. Included in that price is Cozmo himself (and he works with iOS and Android devices), a drive-on/drive-off charger, and three of the interactive power cubes. You can read more about Anki’s Cozmo on their website.
… and yes, I know this reads like an advert, but this just sounds too cool, so I got all excited about it!
Hi Chris – thanks for the review. I really want one of these little dudes!
Unfortunately when I tried to pre-order one through the Anki website the advice was they don’t ship to non-US locations. I tried signing up for and using PostMate – the Australia post freight forwarding service, but Anki automatically cancelled my order and advised they don’t allow freight forwarding either!
Do you happen to know if there are any plans for an Australian release of Cozmo? I’ve also emailed the company and will let you know what I learn.
Thanks
Andrew
Reminds me of the EVE robot from the WALL-E movie.
I want one.