Jibo is Finally Ready to Roll 

After a number of delays that slowed production by more than a year, Jibo has finally begun shipping its eponymous interactive, voice-enabled family robot. Jibo, which costs $899, weighs approximately 6 pounds, and stands about 11 inches tall, began shipping Nov. 7 to preorder customers. The company will continue rolling the product out nationwide over the coming weeks and months.

Owners can ask Jibo nearly anything, such as the weather forecast, the score of Sunday’s football game, or fun trivia questions. When they walk into a room, Jibo might greet them, ask a question, or tell a joke. Jibo can learn to recognize up to 15 users’ faces and voices as he settles into his new home. Jibo uses advanced natural language understanding, machine learning, and speech and facial recognition to get to know the people around him. 

“With the official launch of Jibo, this is finally a reality, and the future of social robotics has never been brighter and filled with more potential,” said Cynthia Breazeal, who founded Jibo and launched its initial Indiegogo campaign in 2014, in a statement. “I am beyond proud of the Jibo team for bringing this incredible social robot to life.”

Jibo’s long-term vision is ambitious, including applications in early childhood education, eldercare, health and wellness, and much more.

Jibo is also an inclusive platform for developers, partners, and third-party integrators to create new, diverse skills for him to learn. The Jibo Software Developer Kit (SDK) will be available later this year.