Baby-tech startup iBaby has distinguished
itself in the monitoring industry over the past couple of years because of a
few
creative design decisions -- most notably replacing the actual monitor with
a smart phone, and focusing more on the camera. Their feature rich cameras,
like the M6S, are some of the best on the market.
And now, they're bringing that
experience to Yobi, a voice assistant and robot
for the whole family. At $400, Yobi isn't cheap. But when I talked to iBaby
President Elnaz Sarraf at CES 2017, she assured me that you will get what you
pay for -- a premium device.
Yobi's base functions include facial
and voice recognition, voice command response, and the ability to speak and
understand multiple languages -- English, Chinese, Spanish, French and more.
On top of this foundation, iBaby has
layered a slew of other features:
- Monitors air quality
- Plays music (and, of course, dances)
- Passes on messages left for family members
- Sets reminders and alarms
- "Checks on" kids
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Sarraf says Yobi
also will change over time, depending on how use utilize it. Eventually, its
intuitive responses will be personalized to you,although how exactly this will
shake out remains to be seen.
In the brief time I
worked with Yobi, I saw an assistant that works well -- but not one with the
same development and interoperability as, say, Alexa or Aristotle. I'm excited
to see how Yobi develops over time, because for any voice assistant,
personality is key.
What really distinguishes Siri from Alexa from Google
Assistant and so on, is the way interacting with each of them feels.
If Yobi can create a
compelling personality, and bring uniquely child-oriented features, it could
represent another compelling entry in the
emerging field of kid-friendly voice
and robot assistants.
iBaby plans to make
Yobi available in Q2 of 2017.
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