Rafiki Update

Hey Dave, I cant seem to access your website...any part of it.

Edit, never mind i remembered you said to drop the "s"

You should take a look at "Buddy". But I guess that this design will probably be the status quo for this type of robot social robot (interface is the face etc). I believe Buddy was designed by graduates from MIT, but being built in France?!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/buddy-your-family-s-companion-robot#/

I have seen buddy and have watched his progress. There are some pretty substantial differences although he is a really cool robot.

They seem to have quite alot of investors and made $600k on indiegogo to be able to produce him at such a low price. That has to be below cost. Interestingly, Pepper's companies have agreed to take a four year loss just to get the robot onto the market. I think there is an additional fee with a data package that they recoup some of their losses. Not sure how much for the personal level, but the business model was like $400 for data, plus its a three year lease and have to return it at the end of that lease. Weird business plans.

Pepper is owned by a company that makes a lot of money off of Cell phones. It seems to me like they are going down this path with the robot.

Also, simplicity has a lot of benefits. Removable components scares me. The funding by Pepper and Buddy was impressive to watch. Funding and advertising is key for sure. I am very happy that I have a very substantial backer so that funding things isn't an issue at all.

They have a substantial team of developers for sure. Their robots are both very locked down which to me is a real negative. You can program Buddy, but we all know how easy ARC is to use. Most people can pick it up really well. This is huge. Saying your robot is programmable, but needing to write code to make that happen really locks a lot of people out from making any changes to these robots.

They both have their place and I am very glad that they are both coming out. The market is wide open right now IMHO. It is kind of like computers were in the early 80's. Exciting times for sure. Just let me be the Dell of Robotics and I will be very happy

Yes for sure. I've definitely whittled down my customer base by making Alan programmable. I've had to tell alot of average consumers that Alan was designed as a development platform for builders and programmers. Its not a open the box and turn it on and it works like Buddy. I guess if I get an offer I like for the licensing it can get proprietary development.

You're lucky to have an investor with deep pockets. Keep up the good work!

@David.

Quote:

Just let me be the Dell of Robotics and I will be very happy

I'll be waiting for your jazzy "Rafiki" TV adds then. Seriously though, I just popped over to your site and had a look. It's all starting to come together for sure. This is going to be one seriously impressive platform, I have no doubt of that. Bank account permitting, I've got my eyes set on one of the Rafiki packages, especially as you can use ARC as well.

To echo what has already been said, keep up the great work you are doing.

Thanks for the encouragement. Btw, a Google Street view car just drove by my house while I was working on Rafiki. Dang spies