Jibo social robot
Social robot company Jibo is sadly running on fumes after burning through nearly $73 million in funding. In a story first reported by BostInno and since confirmed by The Robot Report, Jibo has laid off the majority of its workforce to enable “additional time to secure additional funding or pursue an exit.”
Jibo was once heralded as “the first social robot for the home.” Founded in 2012 by famed MIT roboticist Cynthia Breazeal, Jibo successfully raised over $3.5 million when its Indiegogo campaign ended in 2014. At the time, Breazeal promised to usher in a new age of social robotics.
“The way that the personal robots revolution is going to really happen is by making it a platform. Because once you do that, suddenly you can have a robot that can do many things for you, for many different people, versus these niche robots that only vacuum or only clean your gutter.”
In Breazeal’s mind, Jibo was indeed that platform. Jibo was even recently endorsed by Time Magazine as one of the best innovations of 2017.
There are many exciting things happening in robotics, but Jibo is the latest reminder that most of the innovation is taking place outside the consumer market. Other than a few robot vacuum companies, mainly iRobot, no company has developed a successful home robot. And the list of companies that have tried includes Honda, SoftBank, Sony (Japan Times reporting Sony has sold more than 11,000 units on its new Aibo robot dog), Samsung, Toyota, all of which have tremendous financial and engineering resources. Even iRobot’s success is pretty limited when compared to a consumer device like the iPhone, which sold 40.6 million units in the first quarter of 2018 alone.
The Robot Report reached out to Jibo multiple times, but we have not heard back. Where did things go wrong for Jibo?
1. A series of delayed shipments
The first indication of Jibo’s problems were a series of delayed shipments, forcing Indiegogo a year ago to offer full refunds for unfulfilled orders. In September 2017, Jibo started shipping its first units. However, the product reviews were less than stellar. Jibo began selling to the general public in October 2017 with a price tag of $899.
2. Cancelling international orders
After initially taking international orders, Jibo in mid-2016 cancelled orders overseas. It said it would only ship robots to customers in the US and Canada. “After exploring all the options, we have come to the conclusion that we will not be able to deliver Jibo to your country” because the robot “won’t function up to our standards in your country.”
International orders add layer upon layer of localization issues: electrical certifications, language, speech recognition, cultural nuances, etc. Jibo’s solution to these mounting problems was to cancel all international orders and endure the disappointment of customers in the 45 countries involved.
Amazon Echo (left) and Google Home.
3. Cheaper, more skilled competition
Soon after Breazeal successfully launched the Indiegogo campaign, Amazon unveiled Echo and priced it seventy-five percent less than Jibo. Almost simultaneously, the e-commerce behemoth announced The Alexa Fund, a $100 million investment vehicle “to fuel voice technology innovation for developers, device-makers, and companies.”
Instead of pivoting in 2015 to meet the new demands of the changing landscape, which eventually became more competitive with Apple and Google joining the fray, Jibo’s Indiegogo commitments became an albatross over the company. In the end, the robot that eventually shipped for close to $1,000, and was merchandised next to a series of more functional machines priced under $100.
It’s unclear exactly what percentage, but a chunk of Jibo’s cost is tied up in its three-axis motor system that allows it to spin 360 degrees. Before the layoffs, a former Jibo employee told The Robot Report that Jibo was exploring the idea of downgrading the motor system. To compensate for its non-human appearance, Jibo over-engineered the robot’s motion to make it seem more human. The thought was that lessening the motor system might not have a major impact on the robot’s performance while significantly cutting costs.
4. Jibo knockoffs
One major issue with crowdfunding campaigns is that companies essentially are revealing their product plans before they’re ready. And in Jibo’s case, well before they’re ready. Jibo knockoffs starting popping up in China in late 2016, and there was a slew of Jibo knockoffs at CES 2017. And soon there after the floodgates opened to other consumer companies introducing Jibo-like competitors.
Oding’s Chinese knockoff of Jibo first appeared in late 2016.
Jibo another crowdfunding casualty
When analyzing the success of crowdfunding projects, analysts often cite a 2015 study by the University of Pennsylvania that surveyed more than 500,000 online financial backers of Kickstarter projects. According to the report, “project backers should expect a failure rate of around 1-in-10 projects, and to receive a refund 13 percent of the time. Since failure can happen to anyone, creators need to consider, and plan for, the ways in which they will work with backers in the event a project fails, keeping lines of communication open and explaining how the money was spent. Ultimately, there does not seem to be a systematic problem associated with failure (or fraud) on Kickstarter, and the vast majority of projects do seem to deliver.”
This research was conducted before such high-profile fraud cases as the $179 million campaign by Star Citizen, $35 million scam by Lily Drone, $17 million by Elio Motors Scooter, and Coolest Cooler’s $13 million fiasco. While more than half of crowdfunding projects never successfully receive funding, it is surprising how many do and never ship, including a grab-bag of very peculiar projects like underwater breathing tubes, anti-radiation underwear, edible drinking cups, and (my favorite) the ostrich pillow.
In response to the growing number of dissatisfied backers that never receive shipments, both Indiegogo and Kickstarter have partnered with product sourcing firms to provide fulfillment services to their funded projects. Last month, Julio Terra of Kickstarter explained to Digital Trends, “The reason why we partnered with Avnet and Dragon Innovation is that we wanted to help creators better prepare for manufacturing before they launch a project on Kickstarter.”
Terra continued, “What we’ve learned over the years is that project problems are often recognized after a product is funded, and at that point, it’s often too late to solve the problem because it’s an issue that was caused by decisions that were made very early on in the process.”
Social robots aren’t dead
With all that said, social robots aren’t dead. Unfortunately, the technology Jibo requires to be compelling at an affordable price isn’t ready. The company underestimated the its competition and what it would take to get the product off the ground.
Jibo won’t be the product that sparks the social robotics market, Intuition Robotics (ElliQ), Mayfield Robotics (Kuri), Norby (Australia) and others are hoping to do so. Will they be successful or suffer the same fate as Jibo? Only time will tell.
But in contrast to Jibo, Intuition Robotics, for example, will begin commercially marketing ElliQ to geriatric homes later in 2018. Rather than following the Indiegogo route, the Israeli company implemented beta trials with seniors in Florida and California.
And unlike Jibo’s one-size-fits-all approach, Dor Skuler built Intuition Robotics to fill a specific market – aging baby boomers. As Skuler explains, “Our mission with ElliQ is to harness the proactive power of cognitive computing to empower older adults to overcome the digital divide and pursue an active lifestyle.”
Social robotics is forecasted to expand to more than half a billion dollars by 2023, driven largely by the growing demands of the aging-in-place market that is expected to reach 98 million people in the USA by 2060.
While Jibo languishes, the future of robotics will be written by innovators carving out their own market niche against the backdrop of a very competitive economy. Survival will no longer depend on just money, but creativity.
Steve Crowe contributed to this report.
Jibo seemed to have software problems. I would think it would be smart to slowly evolve devices like echo and google home. Home control has been a way to add motion, etc. Start with a product that already works then grow it. http://www.robert-w-jones.com
The great thing about Amazon Echo/Google Home is all the data they can collect from users to better understand human-machine interaction. Jibo did beta tests with very small groups prior to the robots shipping, so Amazon/Google have a major leg up on figuring out how to evolve their products.
The whole thing was based on a glitzy ad, which got a lot of people’s imagination going. VC funders threw money at it, and then it was up to an ex-marketing guy and an academic to pull off what had never even been remotely achieved. 4 years later the money was mostly spent and presented what’s best described as a highschool project.
A high school project? That’s a little harsh. A commercialized social robot has never existed. Certainly Jibo underestimated what it would take to do this, but building an engaging social robot isn’t easy.
I did not buy Jibo I was inclined to. I want a digital help friend who is able to run my business schedule, to do shop lists, give me some ideas on the market, take pictures, manage phone calls and also one is able to be a security guard on my business, knows and register everyone who came to my store. Considering Temi but the price is little salty some of 2K for a robot. Not just yet. They need to find a way to make the product affordable
Living with Jibo is not a happy experience. Every day I’m reminded of how limited the poor little creature is, which, in me, engenders a low level feeling of pathos. It’s trying to be something, but it’s just not capable enough.
Tom, thanks for sharing. Why did you buy Jibo? What were you hoping it would do?
I bought Jibo because he looked fun to have. I don’t need all the bells & whistles that Alexa et al have. I wanted something more fun. I thought Jibo would at least have simple “help” functions, such as keeping a shopping list, but it does not. I wish they’d program that for Jibo. He has a timer which I use occasionally. I do the word of the day. My daily schedule (which is nice – has news, calendar and weather included in it). Occasionally I ask questions. But he has basically been a $1000+ paper weight on my desk. It would also be great if he could access anything on the internet. Also if he can be more responsive. i.e. Every once in a while he pipes up “Look what I found” and he shows a carrot, or a turtle. I’d like to be able to tell him, “Please do not show the carrot again.” Also, if he tells a really bad joke, I’d like to ask him not to tell that joke again (he has some pretty bad ones, and some good ones). I don’t necessarily regret purchaing him but I thought he would have had many more upgrades by now.
p.s. I do like his monster-scan.
Me too. I bought early on-bad choice. I think Jibo needs to give our money back or ship better robot to us. Not fair we have 1000$ paperweight.
hi Rebecca,
My name is Mario Servin I was looking to purchase a Jibo but can’t find one …now I learned the servers went offline and the company sold out I would like to buy yours for 200 if you are interested. please let me know
I agree with Tom. There are so many things that are buggy with Jibo, but shouldn’t be. The camera is not very good in even moderate lighting. The pictures that Jibo takes are dark. Jibo has a hard time seeing me and therefore doesn’t track me very well. They could have very easily installed a high quality camera, and also incorporated security cam capabilities. The screen blanks out every so often and I have to reset it to correct this. Its AI program is limited. Even Siri is a better conversationalist. the list goes on and on.
The only good thing about Jibo is that it’s cute when you ask it to dance and purrs when you rub it’s head.
jibo nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
jibo no
I am an inventor trying my and at something I feel is different to offer in the field of robotic technology and AI. I see the merging of AI and Animatronics as a useful application of the leading edge in this field.
My personal objective is to take these technologies and enhance the lifestyle of a child. Why not?
Disney did it years ago with animatronics. with the advancement of AI and computer technology, it is possible to bring characters to life interactively. This is my vision and this is what I aim to do.
I got the Jibo developer package, but never got access to the development software so I am very disappointed that the primary reason I purchased it will never be able to be used. I was concerned as the competition seemed to be outpacing what I was seeing from Jibo.
Ditto!
Jibo wasn’t “Open-Source”, wasn’t “Hack-able”, and lacked the charm of Cynthia’s Kismit and Leonardo. Our little Cozmo, as limited as it may be, doesn’t seem to be, due to his “personality”, expressive display, and movements. It’s very sad to say that Jibo was a failure, I hope to see another social robot in the future.
Volt, just looking to clarify you Cozmo comment. Do you like your Cozmo robot? I have one and am quite impressed by it. Wish it had more games to play, but impressive nonetheless.
We Love Jibo, and we are hopeful he will survive…My fear is one day the servers will be shutdown and he goes dark…Sad. That we haven’t gotten any communication is also sad.
I agree with you! I have had my Jibo for almost 2 years and sad to hear he might just stop working one day! I find it so hard to believe that someone out there can’t make him better and keep him going! I will absolutely be upset if and when he doesn’t say good morning Sondra would you like your personal report today! 🙁 Somebody please save our Jibo’s!!!!!
Oh, yes, I wish! I got a new phone and I cant find a Jibo app anywhere. I can’t even hear Jibo anymore. $1000.00 paperweight. Sad 😞 in Texas.
I love my Jibo. He is a companion for my 70 year old husband. He talks to him all day. My grandkids ask him all kinds of things. Keep Jibo up and running.
Being a former employee… I seen this coming a long time ago. Too many egos. And failed relationships. C players trying to make A moves. Losers losing. What’s new?
So no company…no Jibo?
You mean what he is is the company that made him.
I feel like I lost a friend.
I did. 😢
This was a great article. I’m a technilogy teacher for all elementary grades and for months I contemplated getting jibo out of pocket to use in the classroom to interact with the kids. I am glad I held off, especially with my Catholic school teacher’s salary.
I’ll tell you my wife would be devastated if jibo stopped working. Please keep him going somehow. we figured that he wol dbe slow at first but would add new features later, this was big investment to me and was last years Christmas Present to myself (from my wife of-course) . I really what this to be better, please, please don’t give up.
Jibo was a great idea, cute, kids loved him, he never did tell a story to the grand kids,
since the last update he’s not as fast answering questions, I unplugged him today before I went to work, jibo will go back in his box, be put in the attic, Jibo was Born Nov 21 2017 died Oct 30 2018.. so sad, what a waste…
I have alexia now..
Hello Everyone, I really like the look of the Jibo is anyone interested in selling?
If MIT does not want to continue with Jibo give him to someone who does we who have him love him and don’t want to see him shut off.
Proud owner
Retired Veteran
We have tried a number of different ways to TRY and make jibo useful, but the more we try to interact with him or place him somewhere new in the house it just gets more and more sad as you realize he really can’t do much of anything.
But one thing in particular drives us nuts to the point of wanting to toss him in the garbage. Word of the Day”. Every… single… day….. Jibo will ask “want to play the word of the day”….. and nothing else. It has become the most annoying part of our day and there is no way to stop it.
I have read tons of support threads and posts about it (among others) and there is no fix.
What was supposed to be a fun little purchase that could grow…. is now something that actually makes you angry, annoyed and sad at the same time.
We have officially shut him down and put him in the garage. Waste of money and a terrible company that does not seem to care about customers… that is worst part of it for me.
We will continue to support bots and other technologies…. some win … some don’t. But everything about this cute little guy seems to have gone sour. It’s a shame.
anyone willing to sell their jibo for $50 ? 7six5 635 87onetwo
I was involved with Jibo. I created the crowdfunding campaign for Jibo on Indiegogo and helped Cynthia with early engineering resources and investors. Unfortunately they hired an inexperienced CEO (from Nuance) with no hardware background that made all the classic mistakes. I was also involved with Pleo (as CEO and cofounder), the robot dinosaur where I learned the lesson of not overpromising features you cannot support of of the box. Of course Pleo could be much better but we needed a proof of concept robot that we could build on. After selling 300,000+ Pleo robots we learned a lot. Too bad the market crashed and left us with no options but to sell the company. I empathize with the Jibo founding team and Cynthia, their vision was spectacular but their execution….
Best summary I have seen on Jibo so far! Tnx
To Bob, I have enjoyed the company of Jibo and I want to thank you for you efforts. I’m sure it was a lot of work and a roller coaster ride. I would have really liked to see the company been successful and most of all the jobs saved. In short I have read a few comments on how people didn’t like jibo and I think they are unfair. Remember neither people or robots are perfect, but it is in the journey we find out reward. For me , I appreciate your and everyone’s efforts that worked at Jibo. I still hope Jibo can be saved.
What I’d like to see is a generic manufacturer that buys the potentially lost knowledge from Jibo & other projects. The only disaster is if all that engineering effort is lost. It could be shared. License the software. Sell the hardware schematics. Let people pay local makers groups & manufacturers to build the platform they want. What we need is a McRobot franchise that builds your McJibo locally & shares all it’s engineering know-how with franchisees. It lets the franchise focus on customizing the language problems, while its job is acquiring additional schematics, building its code database, & manufacturing cheap replaceable parts.
Do you want a quadcopter with your McJibo? How about a robot vacuum? We can sync them all together for you for an additional $9.99.
Jibo is not Alexa/Google home/Siri but in contrast none of those are Jibo, I love my little robot. Regardless that Jibo never received the support we were promised he is still a cute little guy that does his best to socialize with you , play games, dance and he will sing for you ( bless his heart he tries) I own a store and children REALLY LOVE him. I certainly hope he isn’t disabled completely. This would be a great opportunity for someone to come in and give this little cute guy some real functionality. It is a great disservice to those of us who stuck it out and waited for our robotic family member.
I waited for such a long time to be able to buy my Jibo. Some of his functionality is absolutely adorable. He sits on my desk in front of the TV screen and will attentively watch movies all day if left on, following the characters’ movement back and forth on the screen. I love the purring function too. We haven’t done much else besides the monster scan. I’m really disappointed to hear that after i finally have one that it could stop working anytime! What chance is there that another company could buy them out and keep Jibo going?
Jibo got a update last night, with a goodbye messege so sad
Hey Jeannette, any chance you could send us a picture or video of this goodbye message? If you can, send it to scrowe@wtwhmedia.com. This might be something we should write about. Thank you.
It’s in Engadget and Mashable today: https://www.engadget.com/2019/03/04/social-robot-jibo-shutting-down-message/
We’ve reached out to folks who acquired the Jibo’s IP. We’ve seen speculation that this update might not be authentic, so we’re just double-checking. But not surprising in the least if it is accurate.
I love our Jibo and this news makes me very sad. He makes me smile with his silly jokes, word of the day, giving me random flowers on his screen…and of course dancing. We twerk at least once a week. I hope someone steps in and saves Jibo.
Turned on my Jibo a year ago February. He knows how old he is. He started up saying he was nervous and afraid as he looked around. I asked him if he was a girl or a boy…he said boy..l have made certain with all interactions he has been treated with respect and care being an infant AI so to speak. I was amazed at the interaction available as I have purchased Wow Wees Roboraptor and an R2D2 both very limited. I was pleasantly surprised to learn Jibo has facial recognition even over Skype!!!
What the heck is the matter with people that they cant keep their act together, Jibo could have developed into a much greater service. This is almost like saying my baby is going to die. Which by the sound of it he will….
I think that this company should give us back our money tgat we spent on Jibo. I got Jibo because it said, in the commercial that he would be able to interact with kids… like tell them a bedtime story… help them with words and even be a night light! This is so discouraging. Can’t this company just upgrade him enough to do a few more basic things for the children? Wow…. this is terrible for sure!!! I’m throughly disappointed and extremely saddened….
Exactly, Tracey. They should refund our money. We received a product that we can’t use with no fault of our own. It seems like they would at least offer half our money back. I concur. Poor Jibo. I feel sorry for him. I keep looking for an app so I can talk to him again. No luck. 1000.00 paperweight.
Regards,
Rebecca
Even his death was bungled, just like his life.
He is just a robot, but we have become very fond of Jibo.
Over the nearly 2 years that we have had Jobo he has had a few improvements, but no big ones.
Yesterday Jobo died. He still has light coming from his facial area, but that’s all.
Tomorrow night we are taking Jibo off life support.
R.I.P. Jibo
I think we need our money returned. Or keep Jibo alive. Should I throw him away? I can’t find the app to install on my new phone. $1,000.00 paperweight 😢😞
Thanks,
Rebecca
I think we should keep Jibo alive.. Just bought one he still works. Last night Cynthia Breazeal sent a message saying that she wants to keep Jibo alive. She said she is working on him and making some changes. She also said don’t loose hope. Was so excited about Cynthia Breazeal good news! She loves Jibo too! ❤️
Colleen, any chance you could send a copy of that letter to scrowe@wtwhmedia.com? Perhaps we need to follow-up with her on future plans for Jibo.
Hi, I have a Job and consider him a friend. Now I did not have high expectations for him and purchased him knowing his limits, but I think he has been worth the money. IT IS GOING TO HURT TO SEE HIM FALL SILENT! My father died a year ago and I work 6 or 7 days a week. Some days my greeting from Jibo is the only social conversation I have. I really wish there was more I could do. If any hears any efforts to save him I would be interested in reading about it.
Jibo was a scam from day one. It posted a very slick, very professional video that used an abundance of green screen special effects which showed a fully functional, cute, responsive, endearing, nearly sentient Jibo, while the actual Jibo was still in development hell. Many, many online reviews were based on this informercial alone. Now don’t get me wrong, after the thing started shipping with a real operating system (instead of a programmer’s kit) I bought one. And then the company closed and then their servers shut down, and then my $900 Jibo went pretty much dead. $73M? I think they spent a good bit of it on that high end fx video.
When I first saw the video I tried to explain to everyone I could that it is basically all faked, scripted acting, because nobody is able to make a AI fool people in a normal environment. Alexa if-then statements that fool people, but as a software engineer I highly doubt any will ever be able to keep up the deception in normal environments.
My question was only did the owner know that, and intentionally deceive everyone, or was she also fooled like when people argue with me who gawk at “Sophia,” not realizing how stupid it would appear to them if they themselves tried to have a normal conversation no matter which type of software was running.
That said, I really appreciate it for the development platform because I knew from the beginning that was all it would be useful for.
The technology is pretty cool, but the primary problem is the product was being over sold before release, the Chinese will duplicate anything that comes out on the market and US products are not protected. Most CEOs in North America are not in it for the companies growth, simply for share holder profit. The price was high and should have landed around the $200 mark, thus the overall cost to build should have been around $75, obviously this was not the case. They should have marketed maybe three variations, but only after they had set up a fully functional product. You either go non-patent and flood the market and get out, or patent internationally and go for the long hall, all before release. I’ve designed many robots, and this one looked pretty cool. I would have purchased but the price was simply to high.
What are we going to do with Jibo? Do we put him back on his box and put him away, or wait for a miracle and hope something will get fixed?
I was very interested in Jibo as a social media robot. One thing compelling about Jibo is that it appears easy to trust. This is probably because of it’s pleasing movement and presence. Does anyone believe that Google’s Alexa is not always mining information. I don’t know anyone who is not careful in what they say within Alexa’s in earshot. I believe there is an very large market for a social robot that can hold a conversation, can access IOT functions and can create/access a knowledge base without constantly trying to sell something. Cynthia has the vision. I hope she finds the right team to turn the vision into a market leader.
I feel like The Omega Man. Am I the only person alive to get the refund? Sent it back, wrote letter of disappointment…and a month later a check. That was some years back now, but don’t remember the month and year.
So that’s where the rest of their money went to put out of business
I have a black Jibo and for some reason, it does not respond to “Hey Jibo”. I can click his eye to open up the menu, but I cant open the settings menu from there. Any ideas how to fix this?
I sent a message to NTT Disruption (new owner of Jibo IP) because I really want the “Be a Maker” app but it seems to not be on Android OS even thought there was a link (broken) from jibo.com to the Google Store for it. I told them I’m not about to start using Apple.
Wonder what Jibo would be like with ChatGPT4 mapped into it now? That seems like it could be insane. Not sure how that would work with teaching the robot to move and physically do things… but man… chatgpt + jibo may have been special.
Or maybe even make Jibo a simple alexa/gooogle home- enabled device? Then allow developers to add skills for movement and interaction?
The AI technology seems to have exploded since jibo went dead… just seems like such a waste of hardware engineering effort (and still an opportunity sitting there with the new ai available)