The Rabbit R1 is an AI-powered gadget that’s like a cross between an Alexa device, a Playdate, a Chumby, and a smart web-scraper.
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One very exciting thing, that is not mentioned in the article, is that the device has been designed by Teenage Engineering, who revolutionized the electronic music instruments with the Op-1. Just for that, I'm tempted to try it.
Oh, and also because it gets us closer to the interface in Her... by the way, I wonder if this will be compatible with my Air Pods :)
Cautiously optimistic, and pre-ordered, but seems a bit like another solution hoping for a problem. Don’t know how many people were frustrated today by how hard it was to order a pizza...
Consider QR codes. A lot of years, money and creative minds tried to make them a solution, but until COVID, they only solved an insignificant problem.
I missed this thread earlier, but I'm extremely excited about this. To be clear, the "device" isn't the important piece (although their Teenage Engineering partnership was absolutely the right move here). The key is what they call the LAM (Large Action Model), and the ability that it will have to interact with computer UI's like a person does. APIs and Scripting are great, and there is plenty you can do with that. However, 1) most people aren't software engineers and 2) even if you are, for a single task digging through APIs to make connections isn't necessarily a productive use of your time.
What I find truly exciting is the idea of an AI assistant that can perform tasks the same way that I would on a computer, and leveraging the NLP (natural language processing) to tell it what I'd like to accomplish. Apple has tried this with 'automations' in one form or another for years. However, it's a clunky solution at best. If you watch the keynote where they use the portal to 'train' the AI to generate an image using the Midjourney Discord server, and then general the task it's striking! There are so many times where I'd love to just be able to demonstrate a task once and then send the assistant off to click away at UI.
Also the way they've opened up new ways to get data in/out is impressive. Import a table by camera, output by email(!?!) then iterate from there. The device becomes secondary, as all the action is happening on servers somewhere.
It looked like the keynote wasn't linked directly, for those that are interested, you can find it here.
This does look very interesting. If it performs as well as they say, it could be a real hit. Love the design (I got the https://teenage.engineering/store/400 for Christmas! So much fun!). But could this not have been an app on a phone? I have to carry another device? But what a cool device to carry! This could be the first of many AI hardware devices that become ubiquitous.
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