Anki Vector Robot Review.

And Anki is now a dead company...

Sorry, just now finding time to watch this. I tend to agree with your assessment. It looks cool, probably fun to play with for an hour or two tops, then what? I'm guessing it probably doesn't work very well if the internet goes down or you take it on a trip somewhere that there is no internet.

I had the predecessor, the Anki Cosmo, for some days in my office and... it was cute, but I was quite disappointed from the functionality, although it was delivered with 3 instead of 1 cube. Most "games" and other actions (e.g. training) required the phone, by itself he/she/it was very limited. I can't say, if your Vector is much better - what can it do by its own?

Very fun robot, I wont show it to my daughter because she'll want one. However, a hamster is an even worse idea. Had one for 2 years, she never interacted with it, dady could clean the cage every week and when it died she was in tears for a week. So dont give out that advice olease :-)

i just scanned a bunch of comments on YT ... they don't seem that bad. I mean a lot fo folk don't see the 'bang for buck' in the lil vector, but that's understandable :) Hope you feel better and have a great weekend.

Hilarious how it ran away when playing your themesong.

It looks like something fun to play with for a couple of days, and show off to friends for a week, then put away. I’m glad I saw the video (and no problem at all about the short notice), but definitely not on my shopping list :-) I hope getting the review out promptly helps you at least make your money back! Ewen

If you could watch it learn then that would be entertaining enough. For instance if over time, it could learn about specific table edges and learn to be extra cautious when on that wooden table with the slope, then that would be worth the price of admission I think.

It’s fun, but not fun enough for the price tag. Surely in the future we’ll begin to see simple little bots like these, full of charm, occupying desks everywhere.

Thanks for the review Mat, always been a robot fan. Hope you are feeling better.

What about security? IOT:s (Internet Of Things) connected to the Internet are often all too easy to take control over, due to lack of security arrangements:-(

At this point I'll stick to buying toys that work when offline, just like in the good old days.

No worries on the short lead time, Mat. And sorry to hear that you're not feeling well- hope that you're doing better by the time you read this. The robot looks like it might be fun for about an hour or two for a child. If you're an adult, even less, unless you need a voice assistant; if so, then you would be better off with the Amazon / Apple / Google devices. Don't get rid of it, though... Might be worth a revisit as they expand the capabilities. (As you well know, the Echo can do a lot more now than it could on its introduction.)

it must be crossed with a robot-vacuum cleaner: the child gets tired quickly, due to the small functionality

Oh boy, that little thing is adorable.

Cool Little toy and a Great video

I just know the reaction on youtube is going to be super negative on this one - and I'm not feeling particularly well this evening - so apologies, but I won't be around to answer any more comments. Instead I'm going to take some medication, turn off the computer and watch TV. See you after the weekend. Take care.

Haha, such a pointless device, but damn it's cute! I have such a soft spot for cute robots that act like a small kitten. I really like that you try out other things like this, and not just cameras, hi-fi and retro stuff. :)

To me, this would be interesting at £25, but not £250 - I will just wait for the Aibo dog to come down to £250

I am not a mathemetologist, but to the best of my knowledge, 1/0 is undefined and not infinity. Also, call me a Luddite, but I don't want any internet-connected device always listening to me (yes, Siri is disabled on my iPhone).

Am I misremembering or is there a version of this that plays with several cubes, stacking them? Or is that another robot? Anyhow, this looks to be very expensive for what it is and won’t entertain many for long! Thanks as always for well presented and interesting video, Mat.

OK, who else is thinking about the 'companion cube' in the Portal games.

Awfully steep price for something that looks like it would be shelved within days, or maybe even hours... have to agree w/ your comment about it potentially being a fun alternative to voice assistants--they just need to get themselves into the Amazon or Google ecosphere to support all their functionality as well.

Those spider eyes are creepy

now I am really intrigued. What end sup the difference between Vector and Cosmo aside from aesthetics...

Does he pass the butter?

Looks like a direct copy of their Cozmo body, with a different color. My kid loves her Cozmo. <a href="https://www.anki.com/en-us/cozmo/cozmo-learn" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.anki.com/en-us/cozmo/cozmo-learn</a>

I have one of the newest 2018 Aibo dogs here in Japan and they are really lovable. Its like having a little puppy, it walks about and doesn't really get stuck anywhere. We really enjoy it. They have a GSM sim built into them so they work outside the house too.

I'm definitely going to be getting one of these, nice surprise that you have a video on it too!