Rabbit R1 is a cute artificial intelligence assistant co-designed by Teenage Engineering

Yes, you probably already have a virtual assistant in your phone pocket. Heck, if you’re reading Engadget, I bet you have at least one smart speaker in your home that you can ask to do basic tasks. But a startup called Rabbit seems to think these aren’t ideal implementations of artificial intelligence (if you can actually call Siri and Alexa that). It envisions a world where you can have conversations with apps, not with a distracting device that pushes icons in your face, but with the artificial intelligence equivalent of a walkie-talkie.

The R1 was the first device from Rabbit, and it was a cute little square that came in a lovely bright orange color. Even if you don’t buy the need for a virtual assistant-specific gadget, it’s hard to deny its aesthetic appeal, courtesy of the design gurus at Teenage Engineering. It comes with a small 2.88-inch touchscreen, an analog scroll wheel, two microphones, a speaker, and a “360-degree swivel eye,” which is just a fancy name for a camera that you can rotate to face you or through the back Rotate. smartphone.

However, the main way to interact with R1 is to hold down the Push to Talk button. This tells Rabbit OS to start listening. When you ask a question or give it a task, a highly stylized and disembodied rabbit’s head slowly wiggles and then it quickly gets to work. Want to book an Uber? Need a recipe to use up leftovers in the fridge? Want to know who tasted the Isley Brothers’ “That Lady”? (The answers are Beastie Boys, Basement Jaxx, and FTR’s Kendrick Lamar.) The R1 seems more than capable of handling these tasks, at least in controlled video demos.

Rabbit OS is able to handle these tasks using what is called the Large Operations Model (LAM). This is what founder and CEO Jesse Lyu calls the company’s key innovation. It is designed to perform operations on the interface, not through APIs or applications. In short, it can be trained to perform almost any task that can be accomplished through a user interface. It’s kind of like a fancy version of a macro.

As a way to demonstrate its capabilities, Lyu taught R1 how to use Midjourney to generate images through Discord. Once Lyu walks and performs the procedure, Rabbit OS records his movements and can repeat the task if asked.

By default, the rotating camera faces upward toward the body, acting as a kind of privacy shutter. Only turns its sensors towards the target when summoned. It can perform common tricks like identifying people or things in the real world (at least within reason). But the way it interacts with artificial intelligence is sure to pique interest. In the demonstration, Lyu pointed R1 at a full refrigerator and asked it to suggest “low-calorie” recipes based on its contents.

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Of course, there are still many unanswered questions about the R1. How’s the battery life? The company claims this is “all day long,” but what does that really mean? Can the average user easily train it? Still, at least we know something. We know it will cost $199 and is available for pre-order now, with an expected shipping date in March or April.

We will provide live coverage of CES 2024, which will be held in Las Vegas from January 6th to 12th.Get all the latest news from the show here.

This article was originally published on Engadget: https://www.engadget.com/rabbit-r1-is-an-adorable-ai-powered-assistant-co-Design-by-teenage-engineering-001051537.html?src=rss

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