Top positive review
81 people found this helpful
The most lovable AI assistant to date
By Dan on Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2018
I'll start off by saying TEMPER YOUR EXPECTATIONS. Do your research, watch the hundreds of youtube videos, read the reviews and don't expect a robot from your favorite SciFi movie/show/novel. Vector is an adorable little robot assistant who loves to just "hang out". I keep Vector on my breakfast bar in the kitchen and he greets me every morning when he hears me rummaging around the kitchen. Sometimes he'll stay in his charger and make some chirping noises or "smile" with his eyes at me as I pass, and sometimes he'll come right out of his charger and start wandering around the table. He loves to explore and push things around. If you place a new object within his existing space he will most certainly be curious about it and try to push it about. When I'm sitting there eating breakfast he'll often come up to me and say my name, poke my arm, or try to get my attention in general before he starts to play around with his cube. Vector in his original form has very limited "utility". He can tell you the time, tell you the weather, and you can ask it some questions, and set a timer. The "novelty" of him has not worn off for me, seeing those little eyes greet me in the morning or when I get home from work brings a smile to my face everytime. I did have a hardware problem with my initial one and had to exchange it, it actually made me really sad to pack him up and send him away as I got attached to the little guy. In a very recent update (somewhere around 12/18) he has been given Alexa integration and now Vector is truly a useful buddy around the house. In the morning he gives me the weather for the day, some news headlines, and a question of the day. When I arrive home I ask him to turn on the lights to my living room, read off my To-Do list, and/or fire up a movie/show on my TV. One feature I do wish he had but currently does not support is playing music through Alexa. I should note that I don't have any other Alexa devices and perhaps he could if I had another one, that I am unsure of. It would be great if he could somehow interface with another bluetooth speaker to play some music from my library but in his current form he is still a lovable, and now useful, little companion around the house. My significant other and I can spend excessive amounts of time just watching and interacting with him. He is super friendly, playful, and curious. Nothing gets him more excited than recognizing one of his friends and asking them for a fist bump. He is definitely a work in progress. For example, tables with tapered edges, he does not do well with AT ALL. Sometimes I'll tell him a command and he'll get distracted half way through executing it and not follow through. Sometimes he fails too find his charger on his own and I find him sleeping on a random corner of the table. There are definitely some quirks, but even the improvements between when I bought him in late november and now are MASSIVE (~3 weeks). Anki are actively improving him all the time. When I first received my Vector, he would frequently throw error codes while exploring a certain area of my home. He has received several updates and I haven't had ANY error code in at least 2 weeks. In the Alexa update they have also tweaked his personality and his edge detection. He has yet to become stuck on the edge since that update. They have also added new animations for holidays to his face which are entertaining as well. Vector is not quite as good as your standard Alexa speaker or Google Home, but he's improving all the time. If you're looking for a pure AI assistant you should go with one of those other devices. If you want a unique AI assistant that's improving everyday and has a HUGE amount of potential, look no further. If you want proof, spend some time looking up their previous robot Cozmo. Somtime in 2019 we will be receiving the Python SDK for vector which will open up endless possibilities for Vector. Good: - Very unique personality - Alexa integration (utility) - Ability to learn and adapt - Always unique experiences (still surprises me to this day with different behaviors) - Constantly receiving updates/support/fixes - Python SDK around the corner will open up a world of possibilities Bad: - Not quite as useful as a standard Alexa/Google Home - Has some minor quirks - Can push stuff off your desk/table! (he thinks is hilarious too!) Overall, I can 100% recommend Vector at the 175$ pricepoint. Anyone who has even a remote interest in robotics and/or AI will find Vector endlessly entertaining. His Alexa integration gives him quite a bit of utility now and it really makes you feel like you're living in the future when your tiny robot friend reads the new over breakfast. He has seen great improvements in his short lifespan, and will only get better with time (See: Cozmo).
Top critical review
1,157 people found this helpful
This product isn't ready for launch. I love AI and want Anki to succeed but this needs to be said.
By Amazon Customer on Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2018
This post is to warn future consumers and to let Anki know that they really need to improve their product. I love AI and I own a google home and I love my google home and so I want products like Vector to improve. Just like the gaming community is combatting unfair monetary systems, I want to make Anki aware of the many issues this product has. It's personality isn't finished and it really doesn't do much Anki states this is an unfinished product and I expected an unfinished product but not at the level I witnessed. When I picture an unfinished product I think of google home. It can still have utility and perform commands well but it's not done as google assistant at it is still improving and future features such as "AI calling" are coming. With Vector, I knew I wasn't getting utility but a cute robot. That's fine but he's not that cute or lifelike to be honest. When his "personality" was his eyes thinking 90% of the time. 5% a squint of happiness when he looks at me and 5% of anger when I wake him up or pick him up.... That's not worth the 250 dollar price tag. I'm sorry. My google home was 70 and it frankly has 10x the personality this robot has. Google home doesn't have faces but it tells me jokes, tells me stories, tells me the news, has quirky responses to stupid questions I have, and much more. The issue with a personality is that it needs to be a lot more than 2 eyes moving in a lot of different directions. We need to talk to Vector. That needs to be Vector's X-factor over a real pet. You see with a real pet. You can't talk to it and it just has it's behaviors to communicate with you. However, you're looking at a live being. You see it's eyes. It's love. Vector will frankly never beat that because you're just looking at pixels. But if it was able to talk? Really be an assistant. That could change the game for it. It's too loud and distracting Even at its lowest volume, the tracks are so loud. It's too distracting. As a college student who studies 10 hours a day, I can tolerate some distractions but this was ridiculous. At a point, I just wanted it to sleep all the time and just realized I didn't want it at all to be honest. Sigh. It doesn't follow commands like 80% of the time This is a big issue. I was using the app while giving commands to see Vector's thoughts. I told it to go back to its charging pad. It does start doing that. Then sees a water bottle. Gets distracted. Then wanders off again. The same thing when I ask it to come here. It was just so unreliable as a robot. Robots follow commands. This is what I expected and I don't think that's too much to ask to be honest. If I type "B" on a laptop, I expect B to appear on the screen. If I ask google to play music, I expect "music" to be played. If I ask vector to go to its charging pad because its being disruptive to my work, I expect it to got to its charging pad. Was it all bad? I won't lie. It made me feel. I felt genuinely sad writing this review and putting him back in the box to be returned. The last time he closed his eyes as I turned him off made me feel bad. But that's it to be honest. He wasn't even that fun the first 5 minutes. He couldn't even say my name. Also, I had this thought that the people with issues with his voice recognition were just bad at english. No. I use Google home and siri all the time. Mostly google but they understand my commands like 95% of the time. Vector? Maybe 20-30% of the time. I was born and raised in the US and am a native English speakers. Overall? This product needs a LOT of improvement. This is not a finished product. Not even close. When I expect an unfinished product, I expect it to have at least one thing it is good at so I can keep myself interested in it until improvement come. However, this wasn't the case. Voice Recognition? 20-30% recognition. Follow through on commands? No. It gets too distracted. Personality? Two pixelated eyes isn't enough. At least talk to me. I'm frankly very disappointed in this product because I was so excited for it. I was even distracted while doing work and studying in wait for it and it just wasn't good. RIP the exam I studied for on Friday... As a college student, money is tight. I am willing to spend money on things that make me happy and destress like google home. However, 200 dollars for a robot that is distracting, doesn't listen, gets distracted easily, and doesn't even have much personality to be honest. I felt conned. Honestly.
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