Jibo does the same as your phone - but as a robot

Ok, I'm being harsh, Jibo is kind of cool, but limited nonetheless. While Jibo is able to read your messages, allow you to video-call people and take pictures, we all have our phones for that. And to be honest, it's not really such a hassle to bring up your phone to do either one of those things. And if you want to talk to a robot there's always Siri (maybe not the most intelligent conversational partner, but still).

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Well enough ranting, exactly what is Jibo? According to the company behind the legless bot, Jibo is a robot that can:

• See. Using two hi-res cameras Jibo can recognize and track faces, capture photos and video call.
• Hear. With 360° microphones and natural language processing, you can talk to Jibo from anywhere in the room.
• Speak. Receive and give hands-free reminders and messages.
• Learn. Jibo is equipped with AI algorithms which learn your preferences to adapt and fit into your life.
• Help. Like a personal assistant, Jibo pro-actively helps you. (Yea, but it still can't do the dishes)
• Relate. Communicates and expresses using natural social and emotive cues so you understand each other better. (As long as it comes without Siri's sass).

To be honest, I really don't see the use of a robot that does pretty much the same as my phone and weighs a couple of kilos more. The technology and progress made with the Jibo is undeniably cool, but the purpose is still blurry for me. And I would not really like to have a giant eye tracking my every move in my house constantly asking: “Whatcha doin?” That wasn't fun as a teenager, and it wouldn't be fun with Jibo either. ---- All images and videos © Jibo