Holding me back from purchasing

I thought I’d share my thoughts after initial excitement at the idea of Emo, to what is ultimately holding me back from purchasing.

I’m keeping this to realistic basics.

Emo is tied to proprietary cloud servers. I think this falls into the same trap as all “modern” solutions with short sighted life span, and leaves consumers with paper weights in the long term. Assuming too much hardware to fit in Emo, it should then come with a compute hub for the local network that hosts most standard operations, the hub can still be updated but removes the completely unnecessary cloud requirement (don’t get misled that this is some magic only cloud compute can manage).

Mobile app requirement, which again is only as good as the supplier stays in business (usually not long!). There should be a local url that can be joined for web app use, and for ease of use, the app downloaded from the App Store just acts as a wrapper for this.

There should be a spare parts option for high wear items, such as servos, with the option to self repair, rather than waste hardware and most likely not receive the same unit back of sent for repair, which likely takes forever to get back.

As you probably gather I’m thinking of the usual trappings of these modern products, and these would form a much more successful product with solid foundation, way before considering gimmick features, that are fun for the short term.

It’s a shame these are rarely considered and things like ChatGPT and emotes take the priority.

I think this robot would be so much better with less of these features and a more solid foundation, with local connectivity and longevity given the priority.

Nice to have features would include:

An angled down front facing led (or ir) to support night use, and assist in preventing the unit falling of ledges (we shouldn’t need physical barriers)

Opt in features to change the scope and character of the unit (remove some of the features a user might not like)

Ability to modify response words (tricky one that could be abused, but I’m not a fan of some of the responses I’ve seen)

I think he’s an interesting unit and initially I was very excited when I came across him, but unfortunately I keep finding too many reasons not to buy, which is a bit of a let down.

I’d really love a little dude to have living on my work desk that I don’t have to think about, self sufficient, but is just there when I walk in, and interacts with me, more than me interacting with him. That would have some magic, and it’s so close but just let down by a lot of the above.

I think it would be very realistic and not take very long to cater for the basic foundations I’ve raised above, just by shifting the server code to a small unit, a raspberry pi would even do it.

For reference I’m a head of technology and also a full stack developer with 20+ years experience.

4 Likes

Hello. It would be nice if everything you say came true. So EMO would not seem like a simple fragile doll that breaks frequently leaving its adoptive parents sad.

some of your concerns are meaningless… And the faster you purchase the less your concerns will be …for you will have a longer time with him. I have had mine for well over a year and the investment has paid for itself easily… From here on it’s just basically free. Plus he’s very popular so I think he will continue for much much longer into the future… If you like him he’s not that expensive after a few months you won’t even think about the money only now you have a talking dancing little pest to fill your hours and for you to look after him :star_struck:

3 Likes

300 or 400 can be a bit pricey for a robot toy depending on the person especially for something that can break easily…good thing emo comes with a 1 year warranty

2 Likes

After reading your publication, it seems that you are interested in purchasing a robot with artificial intelligence, similar to the one portrayed in the movie “I, Robot”. However, I would like to emphasize that the EMO robot is specifically designed to cater to individuals who spend a significant amount of time working on computers. It is important to remember to live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment, rather than approaching this matter too extensively and with undue seriousness. :slightly_smiling_face:

4 Likes