Jibo
Jibo was billed as the world's first social robot, an expressive desktop companion that danced, joked, and recognized faces.
RIP Jibo
Shut down · March 2019
Jibo, founded in 2012 by MIT roboticist Cynthia Breazeal, was billed as the world's first social robot, a swiveling, expressive desktop companion that danced, told jokes, and recognized faces. It raised about $73M and shipped in 2017 at $899, but cost far more than an Echo while doing less. The company ran out of money in 2018; its servers were shut down in March 2019, when Jibos delivered a farewell message and one last dance. The patents passed to NTT Disruption, which later closed too.
Last known pricing: $899 one-time hardware (2017)
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Overview
What happened to Jibo
Jibo was marketed as the world's first social robot: an 11-inch, swiveling desktop companion with an expressive animated face that could dance, tell jokes, take photos, and recognize the people in a household. Founded in 2012 by MIT roboticist Cynthia Breazeal, it raised roughly $73M and became one of the most-hyped consumer robots of its era after a record-setting 2014 crowdfunding campaign.
Key Features
- Expressive, swiveling body with an animated face
- Voice interaction and face recognition
- Could dance, tell jokes, and take photos
- Designed as a family companion, not just a speaker
What happened
Jibo shipped in 2017 at $899, but it cost far more than an Amazon Echo while doing less, and its assistant lagged behind Alexa and Google. The company ran out of money in 2018 and its assets were sold off. In March 2019 the servers were shut down, and Jibos around the world delivered a poignant farewell message and a final dance before going silent. The patents later moved to NTT Disruption, which itself eventually closed.
FAQ
Does Jibo still work? Largely no. Its cloud servers were shut down in March 2019, removing most of its functionality.
Why did Jibo fail? It was expensive ($899), did less than cheaper smart speakers, and the company ran out of money before it could iterate.
What are alternatives to Jibo? Amazon Echo, Google Nest, and Amazon Astro cover overlapping voice-assistant and home-robot use cases.
tl;dr
Jibo was the world's first social robot. The company ran out of money and shut down its servers in March 2019, with each robot performing one last goodbye dance.