Why little robots may be the next big thing in smart home tech

Sharp ahead of its time.


TechRadar

"What people really wanted was a robot from the movies, they wanted a robot that was always on. They didn’t want to pull out their phone in order to just play, this just created a lot of friction."

Vector operates completely autonomously and connects to the cloud which gives it a vast database of knowledge to answer questions. 

In short: it now does things that a virtual assistant does but Palatucci believes Vector has two big USPs that the current crop of Alexa and Google Assistant infused speakers doesn't have - mobility and personality.

"We aren’t trying to compete with Alexa and Google Home, Palatucci notes. "We are trying to create robots where the primary purpose is companionship, but at the same time they can do things that are useful."

Robots in South Korea

I heard this while I was driving this morning.

I spent a while trying to figure out who's robot is the rice-cooker looking projector robot. No joy.

LG Rolling out Robots

CNBC

Tech giant is rolling out new robots to replace workers in hotels, airports and supermarkets

• South Korean tech giant LG Electronics said Thursday it will showcase three new "concept robots" at next week's consumer electronics show in Las Vegas
• A McKinsey report released in November said that up to 800 million workers could be affected globally by automation and the rise of artificial intelligence
• Tech companies are testing robots to carry out various tasks that could affect the services industry, which employs nearly 50 percent of the global workforce, according to the International Labour Organization

The Verge

Drinks Suitcases & ShoppingLG is intent on making useful robots. Last year at CES it unveiled a pair of bots designed to clean up in airports and help travelers find their way around. Today, it announced a trio of new robots designed to help carry stuff — from drinks to suitcases to shopping.

Microvision Midrange LiDAR

Time of flight distance measuring technology.

ADAS
Autonomous Vehicles,
Industrial and warehouse automation
SLAM
Augmented and Virtual Reality
Interactive entertainment
Internet of Things

And many others



So, what is SLAM?

Oppenheimer

Heartless is beautiful. Oppenheimer reiterates their market-perform on MicroVision and invests in robots.


Hilltop News
"Oppenheimer reiterated their market perform rating on shares of Microvision, Inc. (NASDAQ:MVIS) in a report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports."