"Hey Kuri," wakes up this tiny 20-inch tall home robot, which will follow you around your house and fill your heart with its cuteness. Kuri by Mayfield Robotics, a startup owned and funded by Bosch, fits in the smart home gadgets category, but it can also be termed as the first real home robot given its capabilities.
Kuri was launched at 2017 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Tuesday. The home robot is designed with personality, awareness and mobility to better connect and interact with people. Kuri is a voice-controlled robot, which does different sorts of things around your house, so you can look at it as Amazon Echo or Google Home on wheels if you blatantly ignore those adorable expressions.
Kuri was built around its unique design, complete with head movements and expressive eyes, which will melt your heart. The Mayfield Robotics team worked on the project for nearly two years before finally introducing Kuri to the world. It is priced at $699 and will be available in time for holidays this year end.
"For generations, people have dreamed of having their own personal robot in the home, and we've been focused on making that dream more of a reality," Sarah Osentoski, COO and co-founder of Mayfield Robotics, said in a statement. "We're proud to introduce Kuri to the world and can't wait to see how he touches the lives of everyone, ranging from parents and children to early technology adopters."
Mayfield Robotics confirmed to International Business Times, India, that Kuri will be at CES 2017 in Las Vegas on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Demonstrations for Kuri will be available at The Venetian suite at the event.
If you are wondering how Kuri navigates around the house all by himself without bumping into your antique showpiece, the answer is in the various sensors integrated inside to map and detect edges and objects. It also has a 1080p camera, which will let you watch the house or check up on your pet while you are away.
The 4-microphone array, dual speakers, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionalities will let you play music. Due to its limitations, Kuri is not equipped with third-party streaming services such as Spotify, but you can play your favourite songs using a Bluetooth connection to your phone. The company is said to be working on bringing third-party support soon.
The smart Kuri robot is trained to recharge itself by returning to the charging station when running low on fuel. It can be programmed with IFTTT to control your other smart home gadgets.
Enough said, take a look at the video below of how Kuri seamlessly interacts with everyday tasks. We're sold (provided Kuri does everything as shown in the video).
And here's another one for you.
