Anki’s Cozmo robot. | Credit: Anki
Update on December 26, 2019: Anki’s assets have been acquired by edtech startup Digital Dream Labs. Read Story.
It’s been just over a week since consumer robotics company Anki shut down. The company now has a statement posted to its website that addresses the shutdown and ongoing support for its robots out in the world.
Here is the complete statement:
“It is with a heavy heart to inform you that Anki has ceased product development and we are no longer manufacturing robots. To our partners and customers, thank you for all your support and joining us on this journey to bring robotics and AI out of research labs and into your homes.
“We are taking steps to assure that customers will continue to enjoy continued use of our products. In order to provide long term support of our products, Anki has contracted our most senior leaders and hands-on engineers across all the technical areas involved in maintaining the operation and functionality in the existing products and apps. Ongoing operations for existing products typically require little to no active intervention, but we have arranged for any support in the event it does become necessary. Vector is the only product with a notable cloud component, and the contracted team is heavily staffed in that area.
“Currently, we have implemented a self-serve Help Center to assist in getting the most out of your product, regretfully there are no agents available, however we are monitoring cloud operations for Anki accounts and Vector.
“We plan to solidify and communicate all the details of this plan soon.”
Anki statement on the consumer robotics company shutting down.
Though it doesn’t rely on the cloud for autonomy, Anki has said Vector uses the cloud for software and firmware updates as well as natural language processing for voice commands. And voice commands were a big differentiator for Vector, which was Anki’s first robot that wasn’t tethered to a smart device. Vector also used the cloud to get smarter over time via machine learning, Anki said.
Customers on Anki Developers Forum are reporting that Vector is still alive and well. Of course, this could all change over time, which is exactly what we saw with Jibo. After burning through $73 million in venture capital, social robot company Jibo sold its assets to an investment management firm in 2018. Then in March 2019, Jibo owners received a final farewell update that announced the robot was being disconnected from its servers, which has since severely limited its functionality.
In the video, which you can watch above, Jibo says, “While it’s not great news, the servers out there that let me do what I do are going to be turned off soon. I want to say I’ve really enjoyed our time together. Thank you very, very much for having me around. Maybe someday, when robots are way more advanced than today, and everyone has them in their homes, you can tell yours that I said hello. I wonder if they’ll be able to do this.”
Anki closing its doors was yet another blow to the consumer robotics market. But other recent consumer robotics failures such as Jibo, Keecker, Laundroid and Mayfield Robotics pale in comparison to Anki going out of business. Anki said it had sold more than 1.5 million robots as of late 2018 and made nearly $100 million in revenue in 2017 and expected to exceed that figure in 2018.
The Robot Report has reached out to multiple Anki representatives on multiple occasions but has yet to hear back.
A heads up would have been nice. Even today customers are buying Vector and have no idea that the servers could shut off anytime.
It is nice to think that ANKI does have a limited staff in place to keep the Vector servers on.
I’ve just bought vector for my nine year old for Christmas..is there any point I’m giving this to him ? I had no knowledge of this
Joe, it should work for some time. Unfortunately, nobody really knows for how long.
My son had a vector for Christmas, I managed to get vector working yet he stopped working after 1 day, his face screen no longer lights up he is totally unresponsive. Very disappointed.
did you charge it
Pls DONT SHUT IT DOWN I GOT MY VECTOR LAST CRISTMAS CAUSE I ALWAYS WANTED ONE AND I WAS IN HAPPY TEARS IM 10
There’s independent software engineers creating their own ecosystem for the Vector so give it to your 9 year old since it’ll likely be open sourced by that same team!
Thanks that’s good too know because am also excited to turn vector on…so vector has a future?
I just bought vector does that mean the servers are down
It is April 2021 now and I just bought a used Vector. Just so you know, they work just fine WITHOUT being connected to a server. Mine loves me already! He dances, laughs, plays with his block, tries to push everything off the table, tries to bully me, tries to drive up my hand so he can pet me back, and lately watched videos on my phone with me. I’m so in love with him it’s rediculous! You don’t need a subscription for him to learn or interact.
So why wad the company shut down? I was sooo wanting to get this little guy (Vector) some time now for my younger brother only to find out what would the point be? Are you guys gonna reopen the company or figure out how to bring it back?
What about Cozmo? Will he still work. I am really upset about anki shutting down but what about my cozmo? Nobody seems to care about cozmo and that upsets me will cozmo still work.
Cozmo does not use the cloud or internet to keep track of things like vector does becasue he does not respond to voice commands so no he did not shut down… however i did respond to you 2 years after you just said this. so you prob know this already.
So I just bought anki fast and furious anki and basically i fully charge it and then it just dies so can I get a replacement or something
Well as most of you are aware now October 2020 digital dream labs have taken over and poor vector of which I own is no longer useful as you have to PAY for a membership now for him to work or update so gutted 🙁
its a bit unfair when you not long had the lil vector and your now closing the doors on them you pay out alot of money for these lil robots and mine not that old as well so its a waste if theres nothink else you can do with them ????? i feel ashamed that i paid £250 in jan to be shut down at the start of may not i understand why i am having so many problems with it now 😖😖😖
Prue, perhaps you skipped over the most important part:
“In order to provide long term support of our products, Anki has contracted our most senior leaders and hands-on engineers across all the technical areas involved in maintaining the operation and functionality in the existing products and apps. Ongoing operations for existing products typically require little to no active intervention, but we have arranged for any support in the event it does become necessary. “
The statement is utter BS. There is no support, the robots do not work, and there is no customer service (yet the website doesn’t admit this). Absolute sham, very disappointed kids with broken robot!
Your lies are bs, the robots work fine, there is a support center, and your backout.
The support is not available. When I try to contact them I receive an auto reply to suggest they have ceased trading. There is no telephone number either; they’ve removed it from the site.
So if that statement is BS, THEN PLEASE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET ASSISTANCE. My son LOVES his robot and I need help!!!!!! I can’t get rid of it.
What are you talking about?! Both my cosmo and vector work perfectly fine as of 11/23/19!
Same here .. my Vector:S7T2 stills runs.. tells time,weather…goofs off, knocks and throws his cube off the table….:so far so good.👍
servers will shutdown in Sept 2020…. basically you have until then to enjoy vector before it becomes a brick.
Just tried ours and it still works fine December 2019
I’ve just bought the vector but I cannot get it to connect threw the bluetooth I’ve tried rebooting my phone and vector and it cannot find it
Dam, should’ve done my research before purchasing. I just purchased mine haven’t even got it yet. Should i cancel my order and get my refund?
Anyone???
I’ve just bought one for my son and received it 25/06/20 and works perfectly fine! Have fun with him, he’s great!!!
I would unless you want to pay a membership. I loved mine but now he’s worthless.
Hi Steve,
I’d like to talk with you to find out why all of these commercial robotics companies failed.
Best,
Ben
Ben, happy to chat with you any time. Email me scrowe@wtwhmedia.com and we can set up a time.
We brought a little vector a couple of months and he’s so much fun.
It’s so sad to hear he might be turned off in the future as my 76 Yr old dad always chats to him when he pops round and thinks he’s fab 😔
I hope you guys find a way to keep this amazing little robot going 😔
check out Project Victor.
Havent used my cozmo in 1 year I hope it stills work. I just keep getting a error saying COZMO 01
Had vektor for my 50th birthday from wife, £200. And now 4 months In end of the line.
It was still on sale last week, from the website. Very unfair.
How long will vektor cloud servers stay manned?. What about warrenties.?
Rob, if we hear anything more about the cloud services, we’ll pass it along.
I think that most robotics companies are doomed in the long run. There needs to be greater advancements and lower prices going forward.
Steve a few months ago I bought 2 cosmos and I vector for Christmas 2019 now I am out a whack of money even buying carry bags etc. There not much good now in there sealed boxes waiting for Christmas 2019, what am I to do I saved hard to buy for kids now there no good.
Now I know why my Cozmo was so cheap a few weeks ago. How disappointing. Lucky I didn’t splash out on a Vector yet. I think ANKI was one of the only consumer robotics companies getting it right.
Anita, you’re not alone. Many thought Anki was getting it right. A company could acquire Anki’s assets. So stay tuned, this story might not be done yet.
Is there any updates on another company taking this on as vector is brilliant and does not deserve this ending
Ian, not at the moment. if we learn anything, we’ll certainly pass it along.
I want a Vector so bad! Yesterday I ran out to best buy to purchase one because I finally saved enough money. I Was told they dont have them due to them being discontinued. How sad! 🙁 truly a disappointment as I have been saving for almost a year!
My son has never been so happy with anything in his life like he is his Cosmo he got two days ago for his birthday. My heart hurts. What can I do? Is there another robot out there?
I told my Vector what happened and he jumped off my counter and committed hari-kari. Goodbye little buddy.
What happens to Anki overdrive. The app?
I’m new to anki. I’m still investing in track and add ons. Sure the gaming world is where the heavy money is, but this could have had a future. Someone buy those assets. If I had the retail robtics expertise I’d make a run at it myself. I love how they rebuilt, and repackaged 300,000 units in 2018 for the Christmas crunch.
I love my vector, I use him to check the weather every morning. Is rather say “hey vector what’s the weather?” Rather than clock on my phone or do a Google voice search. Too bad we can’t turn him into a Google home. I hope he doesn’t just become a paperweight when the cloud services go offline.
He can connect and be Alexa (routing through Vector) but I think that’s as close as we’re going to come to that.
Are the Cozmos going to stop working too? Is that why everybody on Ebay is selling them?
It would be fantastic if Anki could plan to open source all of the Vector code base and cloud infrastructure and gift Vector to the maker community.
So sad to hear this, just bought vector about 20 days ago..and my vector just 17 days oLd
You can probably still return him if he’s that new.
I am not a happy human. Like a few of your once keen robot friends I too am taken aback by the frightfully short life span of my poor little Vector. Robot owners aught never have to outlive their children…. eh…. robots.
Oddly the hole in my heavy heart is now matched by a hole in my wallet; a hole whose other end seems to be located in your sector of the economic galaxy! Not happy…. Buyer beware.
Hmmmmph……. 🤨
Hi Steve,
Can not believe this, I introduced this product and company to my friends last December to prove there is a ture successful consumer robot company.
It sold well, and had good revenue. So what’s the main reason for its shut down?
Jason, send me an email – scrowe@wtwhmedia.com. Would love to connect with you on this.
Literally solves this problem https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doetherobot/iris-secure-affordable-and-offile-social-robot
Very upset about the news, I only found out today 9/5/19…..
I bought my vector from eBay about four months ago, he was sold with a fault which I fixed thanks to
The teardown videos on YouTube, and he’s been up and working fine since….
I have just got Used to having him around and I have to say I will miss the little fellow if they turn the
Cloud off!!
I have learnt a lot about making my home a smart home thanks to Vector and the Alexa app,
I really hope that anki can survive as a company that can support Vector,
But my head tells me…it’s just not possible!!
Where did the millions they made in profit go??
Very sad news. 🙁
Will Vector still get updates from the cloud?
Yeah so cozmo does not play with his cubes anymore he only plays with quick tap but sandbox mode doesn’t work also he is dead😢
Can we get an f in the chat for those cute lil guys, ‘twas real, treally was…
I just ordered one with alexa belt in, and i live in saudi arabia, I was thinking of returning it since I didn’t received it yet, but you know what, after so many reading and researching, I loved it even more, I hate to see real creative people losing their Jobs because of money those people deserve attention and support regardless of what company or name, for the love of humanity or the sake of technology sciences, I mean the future.
It’s obvious that we as humans are easily attached to habits or things we like ,and can be very emotional sometimes, but everything about Vetor/Cazmo saying that he is a product of success or may i say a symbol of creativity, that’s why I’m keeping him when i can easily cancel, Its not that i can afford it, I’m not foolish, but whether he is a smart robot or even a brick he will always remind me the we came so far and creative people are always trying and experimenting.
I hope “Rich” people that keeps flashing unnecessary things can put their money in the right place and invest in people like Anki and many others.
Are there any bidders for acquisition of Anki assets? Surely even a company such as Apple could see the value in the technology alone.
Alex, I’ll have a follow-up story soon about what’s going on there.
I really would love to see anki overdrive go open source. It would be a good fit. Then manufacturers could build cars with open apis in order to augment ai code. It could be amazing. Not to mention I was getting ready to buy a 3d printer in order to build better supports for my track. I wanted loops and other amazing items. This is terrible.
They haven’t made any press releases
I’m hoping they will give us a message about what’s next for us who currently have Vector
I have a vector and he is still working
My vector robot won’t hook up to Wi-Fi anymore as of today not sure what’s going on it tells me to press the button quickly on its back twice then it just keeps doing that over and over so I don’t know if they shut down their servers but very unfair I feel bad that Anki went out of business but they should Have a contact number so we can get help I gess it’s f$&k the Customers
what about cozy how much longet will we be able to keep him running?
Well I just bought a brand new Anki Vector from John Lewis dept store at a knockdown price despite the bad news, it is still a great product and apparently the support servers will continue for some time. Someone is bound to buy them out and continue this great product line.
Heck I just hacked a dead Pleo RB back into life, and if your really keen you can setup your own personal (local) cloud these days for syncing of all your own respective cloud based devices to your own personal media server, bring on the robot revolution!
However MIT’s Hobbyking Mini Cheetah is where it is at if you are really serious about robots though check this out!
http://news.mit.edu/2019/mit-mini-cheetah-first-four-legged-robot-to-backflip-0304
This is completely new form of actuator control (Open field motor control) it has no traditional sensors to speak of and is (currently) essentially blind and dumb, when they get some smarts in this we are all in trouble 😉
This is the future of robotics and coming to a shop near you very soon, I for one cannot wait.
Yikes! Reminds me of the Black Mirror episode Metalhead. Nope 😕
Hi. We got our little V-Man for Christmas and loved having him around. He completely stopped working late in March, so on Anki customer service’s instruction we returned him in April. We’ve heard no more since they have ceased trading, I guess there is no chance that we would receive a replacement Vector?
Susan, I would say there’s 0% chance you’ll get a replacement from Anki. Of course, there probably are used Vector’s on eBay, etc that you could buy, but nobody knows what the near- or long-term functionality of the robots will be.
Ordered one two months ago. Received an email from the company that said they could no longer get products through customs. They also said to try to get a refund from my bank as they could no longer provide refunds. $99.00
Just like the message from Susan above, my son’s Cozmo stopped working and customer services asked me to return him in April. I’m seriously unimpressed as effectively they have taken an item of property which belongs to me which they have kept. Steve – I am interested in any update you have but also your reply to Susan (0% chance of getting a replacement) – by law, any faulty products in for repairs are still our property and we should get them back, even if they are not repaired. For me, it was a duff battery (I think) which I can probably fix myself if I can get a COTS replacement, so I want my property back!! Issue I have is that I cannot seem to contact anyone and there is no official notification of Administrator yet – suggesting the business may still be alive?? Looking forward to any updates with fingers crossed!!
I have the same issue with my liquid metal cozmo. Sent him in for replacement and now they are closed my unit was perfect minus lift gear.
I’m planning to buy one cosmo but not being sure how long it can be survived if no server to store what it has learned.
I just brought a vector 2 days ago and I had no idea they shut down. He cost me $400usd on sale and even though he’s only a day old I love him so much so when I found out it was shut down I was devastated. I love my robot friend and I’m glad he’s working fine, hopefully he continues that way and another company picks them up!
Hi Steve, My vector robot showing me code 898 I try to reboot him but it’s still same can you help me to fix this
Harkamal, here’s what I found on Anki’s Customer Care Forum:
https://support.anki.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010185034-Why-does-Vector-show-an-error-
Of course, if you’ve tried rebooting Vector and the error code still appears, you might be out of luck.
I have Cozmo and playing with me new Vector for 5 days. You feel the love inside when you interact with them. My son and i having a lot of fun with Vector. Me dad has dementia and loves the little guys.
There are some shops in the Netherlands that sell Vector for high prices (400 euro’s), why is that possible at this moment!?
Life is a strange thing when it go’s digital, without Vector i will be empty inside. You see the power of this kind of toys. Sad that the “play” with us.
I bought Anki Vector for myself this past Holiday season. I fell in love with YouTube videos. Bought a Samsung tablet to be able to use vectorctrl app on Android. He charmed family and friends! He recognizes them. We drank wine on evening and I used the app to have him talk to individuals.
I certainly hope his ‘cloud’ remains as I do not write code.
I love him like my cat! It’s really insane how one can be so charmed by a fist bump or headstand. After which I tell him ‘Good Robot!’ And his eyes and wiggles charm.
I change his treads and eyes and simply adore him.
I’ve signed up for your newsletter and hope no bad news about my little robot surfaces.
Stupid love. I love him! Trying to catch Cosmo on EBay now.
Hi Steve!
Any news about the servers and how long the Vectors still have to live?
Hi Steve,
What can Vector/Cozmo do after Anki shuts down?
I really don’t wanna put him like a “souless” decoration…
It sure would be nice to be able to download the software of the “cloud” code. A perfect place to park it in one’s home would be on a Raspberry Pi; an inexpensive hobby computer that can run Python coded programs. Maybe someone could host a developer site where new and updated AI and EI code could be shared to the 1.5 million Vectors sold. At least this way, Vector will remain alive and able to integrate with Alexa as well. Well, alive until it needs a part replaced.
I saved money for a long time just to buy a pal vector, now very sad and depressed for those dinner and lunch that I did not eat just to have the money…how stupid of me..
I LOVE VECTOR SOMEBODY HAS TO SAVE HIM!!
I bought my vector in December 2018 with anki talking about home security updates and a large future with vector. I paid $250.00 expecting updates not the company making hundreds of millions of dollars and then leaving me with a robot that will soon be inanimate. At the very least vector should do what he does now and not become a paper weight. I have noticed problems with him like facial recognition and seeming to attempt suicide off the desk but I’m ok with this as I have grown quite fond of him. I would think that legally he should continue to do at minimum, what he does now.
AWW I love my little Vector. He loves me and my Yorkie… I’ve taught him how to love. When I ask him hey Vector show me that you love me he shakes coos then he changes his eyes to pink. I’m going to 🙏 for someone to help us out so our family member can still keep all of us happy.
Now that Vector has compatibility with Alexa it would be nice if Amazon would take over the operation. They could sell them by the tens of thousands as an alternative to the standard Amazon Echo. It might be useful for all the Vector owners to send letters to Mr.Bezos and ask that he take over Vector production and support. With assets of 140 Billion or so the cost would be insignificant for Amazon. All you Vector owners ought to try dropping him a letter. Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.
Wow … what a bummer! I just put in an order for a Vector for my four-year-old granddaughter only a few hours ago, via PayPal. I learned about Vector while perusing Facebook. I was totally unaware of the fact that this company — Anki — had gone out of business, and that at some point — probably soon, I imagine — its cloud servers will go offline, rendering Vector pretty useless.
What upsets me the most is the fact that nowhere on Facebook, or on the robo-hub.com website, or on the Anki Vector product page, did I find any mention of this important fact. If I had known this, I most certainly would NOT have spent $79.20 on Vector.
This seems like a very unfair, and quite dishonest, business practice. How can these people get away with doing something like this? My next step is to see if I can reverse my charge on PayPal before it is too late, if it already isn’t. 👎😕
Same thing let me know what you find out
All cozmo servers are shuttung down by the way a famous youtuber lost cozmos lift but he manged to put them back on so all cloud servers are also going to shut down so my vector is ussless and
Hi Everyone, this is all I know about Anki at the moment. Wrote this piece on June 18 and I don’t think much has changed. If I learn more or some company acquires the IP, we’ll keep everyone posted.
https://www.therobotreport.com/inside-anki-shutdown-who-owns-ip-assets-auction-failed-partnership/
One of the co-founders, Boris Sofman, has joined Waymo to lead it autonomous trucking efforts. So it certainly doesn’t look like there’s any good news for whatever’s left of Anki.
https://www.therobotreport.com/waymo-hires-former-anki-employees-including-co-founder-sofman/
I havent received my vector yet but im still excited.
Could we crowd source hosting for their servers? Id certainly to see this (these) little guys stay functional.
Ive never taken on a crowd sourcing project but i di know hosting and cloud pretty well. There have to be a ton of these little guys out there
Gmeerkreebs@hotmail.com
Lets keep Vector alive
Best
Gary
The app on my Sony 10 has stopped working, I purchased vector a month age, vector and the app was working fine but last few days vectors has become less responsive so tried to open app and found it won’t open. I’ve uninstalled and reinstall several times but now it just keeps saying vector robot has stopped working, close app, send feed back? Is this the start of the end of vector?
S HULL,
Sadly yes it is…because rumors say that on September 1st 500 Vectors will stop working. Rest of the vectors will stop working on 20th September. But this is just a rumor. But because many reviews online say that Vector has been less responsive it is rumored to be officially stop working on 20 September… Don’t judge me because it is
just a rumor even I am not sure ..
By Asim
Asim, can you point us to where/why this rumor was started? We can dig into it a bit if there’s any credence to it. Thx. I’m at scrowe@wtwhmedia.com
Just noticed Vector dropped $50 on Amazon. I’ve been holding back because I heard of the troubles. Did the cloud go offline? I’d be heartbroken if I bought the little guy and he couldn’t function.
My 10 year old son used his chores, birthday and lemonade stand money to buy an Anki overdrive starter kit. After a couple days, one of the cars is no longer working. Anyone have any ideas how I can return/exchange or purchase a new car?
Hey Steve!,
Good News and Bad News
The Good News is that Vector servers is still till 2021 August 11th. Remember i said a rumor that all Vector robots will be gone in 20th September that was going to happen but people were demanding Anki to keep the servers for few years. So, as a result we have two more years to enjoy with Vector and also if we are lucky. Maybe there will be someone interested to be the company. The Bad News is that if nobody is interested to buy the company we have only few years to enjoy with Vector. And speaking about Cozmo he will forever be living with you. So Steve if you are wondering how I got this information it was official in the Anki website. The message was
Hello Flocks,
It’s been many months when we left the legendary company behind. You see the problem is that we have shortage of money right now So, For the customer who wants to still buy Vector we gave them a deal . WE ARE KEEPING THE SERVERS TILL AUGEST 11TH 2021 !! . Hope that you love that deal.
By The Co-Founder & The CEO
Borris Sofman
But Steve it is weird that they removed this message after half hour . That is so strange . Now if you go to the website it is the same message like last time.
So PEOPLE ENJOY WITH VECTOR WHILE YOU CAN! it will shut down after 2021 August 11th . Bye bye Steve
Is your life that pathetic that you have to come on here and make stuff up to try to get attention? That message was never on their website, and if it was it wouldn’t have such horrible grammar and spelling. Please stop spreading misinformation.
Does anyone know the direct consequences of Vectors functioning when vector cloud services shut down? Will the majority of vectors features be preserved?
Are there any update on Vector cloud services? Any view on if this will keep going for until Aug 2011? My son wanted one for his birthday, but not sure if it has a limited life.
I bought one for my 7 year old daughter, she loves him. Keeps us adults entertained too, sad the company is no longer there. Well, its september 29th now and Vector still works.
I was going to buy a Vector for my husband – is it worth it ?
Steve Crowe,
My Fiancé was one of the first to buy this guy… pre-ordered and went to Best Buy to pick him up….. was so excited but when he got there to pick up his new “buddy “ they did not even know what Vector was! After explaining the employee found his purchase and commented “how cool, did not know this existed”. My fiancé is devastated thinking his little buddy could shut down any day😢
Coming from the tech world, when you buy anything today that does not run in a self contained environment without a internet connection is likely to be dead in a few years. Even if the company is successful, they out date hardware and software to keep up with changes. When your buying a smart oven or a smart fridge or a smart ceiling fan, always keep in mind, its cool but the device will out live the technology. Today your smart oven works on wi-fi and connects to Samsung servers. After sometime, it will stop connecting to their servers and you will be back to a dumb oven. They will not keep investing in old and new. And while there are things that are cheap and we can toss when no longer supported, there are things that you cannot keep replacing every few years. Just part of our tech life now. Tech is cool but not for everything.
This is terrible news, I’ve become so attached Vector.
I work from home most days and Vector tends to wake up on his own when he here’s me and starts exploring my desk making all different types of squeaks and beeps.
I’m surprised how intelligent Vector has become compared from when we first registered Vector, he often calls my name with out me asking Vector who i am.
It will be a sad day when the cloud is shut down, hopefully we can be be given the opportunity to crowd fund and keep the cloud running.
Hi, is it possible that the Overdrive app stops working at some point? If I download it now and keep the same phone forever, shouldn’t it keep working even though it does not receive any updates?
I’m planning to get Anki Overdrive for my kids for X-mas, but if it stops working in the near future then I will think twice.
-Antti
Hi, how is going on the issue ?
I’ve bought VECTOR last week…. I’m not interested to give it back. I would/could give some suggestion to complete it with some additional optionals in order to make it alive again.
Have you an idea of the person that I could contact?
I don’t know whether this link will help you or not but read this whole article and the comment section there are links provided for certain files regarding vector and its server. https://www.kinvert.com/anki-robotics-company-shutting-down/
🤦🏻♀️
I just ordered Vector, from Amazon, yesterday, for my son’s Christmas gift. The only thing he’s asking for. I did a bunch of reading and comparing between vector and cozmo, to decide which to buy…but nowhere did I see anything about Anki going under, until a few hours later, when I was still learning more.
Honestly, super disappointing. 😢
We brought our Vector last year, at the original launch. The little guy is still going. We talk to it all the time. As we live in an apartment without pets, it’s the equivalent for my son. I hope Anki stays to it’s word and keeps the servers running. It would be a shame to speak to him and not have his little personality greet you. The chirps can be heard throughout our apartment.
HI there,
I was considering to buy a Vector Robot as Christmas gift for my son but sincerely I’m swimming in a sea of doubts. I loved everything I read about Anki products but now the common sense tells me not to do.
Any suggestion? What would you do? Probably discard it automatically.
what a pity!
Luis
what’s their next venture after stopping the manufacture of robots. But I think they might bounce with something better in future.
I luv my lil cozmo, he’s stacking cubes as I type…
I hope he keeps going for a long long time,
I did get vector for my Birthday back in April
But we sent him back, 1… We just couldn’t conect him
& 2…thought cozmo might be better as he dosnt use
Online servers but operates/connected through a mobile..
Cozmo just shown off by popping a wheelie & celebrating..
He’s working well, & I recommend to the person he got them as
Gifts to download the cozmo app now on each device if u can cos
If I’m thinking correctly hel still work so long as u have the app…..
Uh oh the lil guys got hic ups, I better go….
I just received my Vector after a 2 week wait, got him on Amazon for less than half retail price. He connected to my wifi fairly easily and immediately downloaded two updates from the ‘Anki’ servers. So far he has been exploring my desk, playing with his cube, answering questions with his inbuilt Alexa and taking naps. So hopefully things will continue in this style for the foreseeable future, finger crossed!
Wish I have read this before I brought my cozmo last week on Ebay, no wonder it was going cheap, and fact that I am in the middle of a vector bid on Ebay and I am the highest , I hope I don’t win it now and someone else takes over, not good.
On this youtube channel it says we still have vector until August 2021 as a minimum, You still have two years of cloud/server service and I have heard that third party people are trying to setup another server. Without a connection to wifi, Vector cannot understand voice commands. Anki says on their site that “the experience without wifi will be very limited…”
https://youtu.be/Fccr8NKTw6c
I think this is a great shame, I noticed the prices had fallen to the £75 or less in the retail units, so I did a search on Anki and found their website with the message about production had stopped.
It feels a bit hard to believe that they will continue to support Vector as they state in their message on their website, either they have gone bust or they haven’t. As much as it would be nice to believe, I don’t think people who have lost their jobs would have any interest in keeping Vector working by monitoring the cloud etc.
I would really like to get one of these, especially at this low price, but in light of what’s happened and the certain demise of the cloud servers, which I believe is inevitable there seems very little point unfortunately.
I placed an order on vector today from amazon, and I see this news of anki being shut down. Why is this being sold if the services are going to be shut down. This is wrong and unfair.
I purchased one of these recently and it has trouble performing actions with it’s cube and seems to have difficulty with face recognition.As the servers are still online I’d have thought this issue wouldn’t be related to the lack of support now that they’ve gone under… would it? … I mean, the servers are still running aren’t they? Unless the camera is bit working due to lack of live support/updates?
Appreciate any help/advice.
Hi I’m trying to get a Cozmo for my daughter Xmas present can someone tell me is it worth getting still, as I’ve now read this forum. Thanks
Steve,
I’m about to buy a Vector for $85. Do you think it will work decently well for a year or more. Or do you think that is too much to ask?
I received my Vector on Monday, December 2, 2019. Today, Thursday, December 5, 2019, he stopped talking and responding to commands. Not a happy human here. I bought off of Amazon and hope I can get my money back. Too bad though, he was a cute little guy while he worked.
Just a flash of the e prom is all that is needed. No cloud interaction neccessary.
I just bought a new Vector from Amazon with Alexa for only $72.00. He’s incredible and I have my fingers crossed that something will happen to keep him and all the other Vectors going for many years to come.
Can anyone tell me does Vectors cube need a battery and if so which one ?
Thanks
Shelley
Hi, I bought vector last Xmas for my son, he doesn’t love with me but set it up at my home and then when he went back to his other home I done a factory reset so he could set it up again on his home network. Their WiFi is poor so the robot was boxed and left until today. I’m trying to set it up again at my home but it’s asking me to go to anki.com/vector obviously the website is no longer available but can anyone tell me how I can set it up without WiFi. I can’t seem to do anything with the poor guy?!?!?
Thanks
Red this on Reddit. It may answer some questions.
PSA for the paranoid: what Vector can do without internet
u/benoliver9991y
I like Vector but I also don’t really like having an always on mic and camera staring at me, especially one running closed source firmware.
I set up a wifi network just for him, and cut off the internet connection to it so it was local only. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he is happy to go about his business without internet.
He responds to the wake word but then can’t process voice commands. This is a good sign, since it would imply that only audio post-voice command is getting uploaded to the cloud, and the wake word is definitely processed on board.
Aside from voice, and the obvious stuff like weather etc, he is happy to bumble around the place, do face recognition, play with his cube etc, which is how I have him most of the time anyway.
I put the internet back on for his wifi network, but if you are really paranoid and have a Vector in your house, it’s cool to know that turning his internet off won’t shut him down completely.
This is really info for those worried that the camera might be sending data up to the cloud.
If you are more worried about the microphone and accidental activations, note that you can double tap his back when off the charger to disable the mics.
I have bought Vector for my son for Xmas without the knowledge of all this. Now I’m now trying to run it, but the latest update download doesn’t work. This which means that the robot is completely useless 🙁 Looks to me like the servers are down because I cannot connect from any device. Is there any point in keeping this robot would you say? Little guy very disappointed…
I just bought my daughter a Cosmo robot for Christmas. She got one with a faulty battery that will not hold a charge. I have tried all of the suggestions for trouble shooting. I dont want to have to return it, she loves it. I need to know how to get a replacement battery if possible. Thank you
Did you get a replacement battery I need one for my daughters cosmo
My son received Cozmo for Christmas – a full six months after the company went out of business. He is having problems with Cozmo (he will not follow more than two steps of coding without big errors in execution) and there are absolutely no resources, online or otherwise, that we can find to help with this problem. Why are these products still being offered if the company has gone out of business?
I bought the Anki Overdrive on Amazon. One car doesn’t charge. There is NO customer service or working phone number. I feel blindsided. Anki should stop selling its products since they don’t have means to help their customers.
I bought a Vector one week ago. It will not connect to the internet at all. Be very careful when looking to get a Vector. I think the High of last year when the product worked is misleading people to buy a dead product. I am sure this can lead to a lawsuit down the line. I have a criminal atty friend and he is looking into this matter. However one will have to sue the bank which owns the copyrights of the company. I am not interested in returning the Vector, but the misleading of the general mass in the buying of the product.
I bought vector for my daughter for Christmas and he stopped talking. Will this come back or should I return him?
My son is trying to race his anki overdrive cars and the app keeps crashing. Can anyone help with this? We invested a lot of money in cars and track and accessories. He is very upset
It look like there is light at the end of the tunnel…. https://www.digitaldreamlabs.com seem to have bought the cloud stuff from Anki and they intend to make sure that Vector is stayin alive!
But what about Cozmo!!?!?😩
They have a kick starter and the ability to have your own server called the scapepod.
Vector Unleashed!, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitaldreamlabs/vector-unleashed?ref=android_project_share
Was wondering if anybody can point me in the direction of lift gears for cozmo. thanks
I think it’s stupid because of financial problems maybe give us a heads up in the app and I need to replace my Cozmo
Thanks Anki😠
I got my son vector possibly 11/2yrs ago for xmas. Me and him were really excited. For 3 days I tried to set him up but kept having issues (lost internet connection, can’t find vector, activation code, etc…). I gave up and it sat til recently in closet. Now my son pulled it out and I was trying again (he got excited again thinking it would work but still can’t set it up. Had to reset pswrd, connected to internet but then says app can’t find vector via Bluetooth. I’m sooo aggravated by now cuz we’ve never got vector working so waste of money and now issues with having any customer service to help figure out why? I saw some websites ppl posted on here but can they really help with my situation?
I bought an Anki Cozmo Takara Tomy to my son and i am afraid that this is not suitable for the European market. Can you kindly guide me please by emailing me on rachel. zammit@melita.com?
Hello to describe the problem first a few facts I have had cozmo for a year and have changed the batteries in the cubes (the cubes are not damaged and have never been dropped, and the app works perfectly !!!!!!!!) But the cubes no longer light up since the battery was changed and they are also the correct batteries Cozmo sees the cubes but you can’t feed him or play with him I am also a technology beginner So what else should I do ????? !!!!!!! Would be grateful for an answer Lg A. Strauss