Have you heard of Loona yet? She is a smart pet robot that has now garnered millions of dollars in backer funds on crowdfunding sites and has already started shipping to early investors. It seems as though tech companies have been starting to push smart home robot tech more and more over the last few years, not unlike the many learning and coding bots we have seen out there and the upcoming Amazon Astro household helper, but Loona is taking a slightly different and more adorable approach here. Coming in the form of a little robotic puppy, she is looking to become your new best friend and help out around the house too. Head below for more details.
Loona smart pet robot
Loona features a slew of sensors and a 3D camera as well as an array of microphones so you can call the bot to you like a real puppy and generally respond to commands and gestures. Loona leverages face and body detection as well as voice, movement, and object recognition – she will even greet you when you get home and lean into your hands when you give her a pet. She can play games, stand on two legs, features advanced edge detection, and much more.
When you come home, she’ll come quickly to say hello. When you walk around, she loves to follow, and when you pet her, she’ll be soooo happy. She can also have fun by herself- She sneezes, scratches, roams your home easily and even investigates suspicious objects. But she can also beatbox, dance, even pose for pictures.
Loona is a lot more than just the cutest little robot puppy around, though. Not unlike the Amazon Astro in some ways, she can provide at least some degree of home security. Those completely adorable eyes, wiggling ears, and facial expressions aren’t going to scare away intruders, in fact much the opposite, but she does double as a sort of mobile security cam – keeping an eye on hiding pets and other things around the house. And, you can steer her around your space to get a closer look at just about any entryway, window, or hallway.
Loona is equipped with a camera and a speaker. So when you’re away, you can monitor your home through Loona’s camera. Meanwhile, Loona uses a data encryption chip to protect user data and user privacy at the hardware level.
Loona’s creators say this is all just for starters, too. The robot’s functionality can all be expanded via custom programming “with a friendly drag-and-drop coding interface based on Blockly by Google – so you can teach her new tricks, while you learn a few of your own,” but she will also being seeing a host of free updates “for backers that will not require a subscription fee.”
As of right now Loona is available via crowdfunding campaigns at $359, down from the regular $498, but reports suggest the puppy bot will be available by the end of this month via the company’s official site.
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