Robotmaker Anki is bankrupt and has almost 200 employees on the street. Anki became known for the robots that could be operated with a mobile device. Cozmo and Vector are the two best known examples, but also the Overdrive is from Anki.
Anki made robots like the Overdrive, Cosmo and Vector. After a financial deal was cancelled at the last minute, the company got into trouble. CEO Boris Sofman informed his staff about the closure on Monday. Employees receive another week's salary, after which they will have to look for another job.
Difficult market, Anki is bankrupt
In 2013 the Anki robots were shown for the first time during an Apple keynote. The company then showed the Anki Drive, an artificial intelligence remote control that allowed you to control a racing car game. After that Anki made more toys, which you could control with a mobile device. The plan was to make robots on a wider scale, but that didn't work out. It turns out to be a difficult market; other manufacturers of consumer robots have also gradually stopped. Including the maker of Jibo.
Cozmo
Cozmo is a super smart, playful, and cute toy robot with a personality to play games. Cozmo comes along with cubes that light up or change color when Cozmo plays with you or its surroundings. With the help of the app you can play games with Cozmo, you can see when Cozmo is hungry or needs 'maintenance'. In addition, you can teach Cozmo different faces and their names. The more you play with Cozmo the better he gets in the games and the more new options you unlock. Cozmo develops a character based on how you deal with it.
Vector
Vector is an advanced house robot. He is the small beginning of the promise to live with robots in a way we've only seen in science fiction movies. It is a curious little robot that is aware of its surroundings. It can see, hear and feel, allowing it to respond in a natural way to the world around it. The small robot works as a smart assistant, but can also move, react and take the initiative. Around Christmas 2018, Vector was linked to Alexa, Amazon's smart assistant. This enabled Vector to control all kinds of smart devices and lights in the house.
Pets of the future
In April 2019 we wrote an article about how Vector was a good example of the pet of the future. And although Anki doesn't seem to be able to keep his head above water at the moment, we are very curious about all the new developments that will take place in this area.