We got an up close and personal look at the new Kuri Robot Assistant at CES 2017. Kuri is built by Mayfield Robotics, a Bosch startup company based out of Redwood City, CA. They launched the robot at the 2017 CES as “an intelligent robot for the home”. What sets Kuri apart is that it is designed to interact freely with family members—but in different ways. Kuri has personality, awareness, and mobility. It will treat the mother of the house differently than it treats a child. It’s also fairly affordable—for a robot. At $699, the Mayfield Robotics Kuri positions itself as a kind of Google Home or Amazon Alexa—but with mobility and physical characteristics. Kuri can be pre-ordered with a $100 deposit at heykuri.com.
Kuri Robot Assistant Features
Like Amazon’s Alexa, Kuri can understand both context and surroundings. It can even learn to recognize specific people. When interacted with, it responds with facial expressions, head movements, and sounds. We really like the idea of a small robot assistant, but it will take solid integration with a powerful platform to take off. Bosch seems to get this, so Kuri has a nice head start with an open platform.
The development process was fascinating to behold. The prototypes grew from rough designs to more polished products as Mayfield Robotics honed Kuri into a finished product.
If Kuri behaves like a moving Amazon Alexa, Bosch’s Mayfield Robotics is going to do very well indeed. Initial information is encouraging as the Kuri robot assistant has IFTTT capabilities to let it connect with other modern smart home technologies.
“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. 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.”
Sarah Osentoski, COO and co-founder of Mayfield Robotics
Mayfield Robotics Kuri Robot Features & Specs
Built-in 1080p camera- Remote audio/video monitoring via app
- 4-microphone array
- Dual speakers
- Wifi + Bluetooth connectivity
- Various sensors for mapping and detecting edges and objects
- Easily programmable tasks and IFTTT capabilities to connect with modern smart home hardware/apps
- Wheels handle a wide range of flooring, carpets, and transitions
- Expressive eyes, friendly robot language of beeps & bloops, and multi-color chest light
- Hours of battery life
- Automatically returns to charging dock for recharging
- Dimensions: 20 in. T x 12 in. W
- Weight: 14 lbs
- Software: iOS/Android app-enabled
Mayfield Robotics shipped the first Kuri robots in time for the 2017 Christmas buying season. Would the Kuri robot interest you for your home? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
