Lovable “Kuri” Housebot Cancelled

This Little Bot Will Live On In Our Hearts

Kuri, a smart, multi-function housebot that can be described as looking like a cross between Big Hero 6’s Baymax and Eve from the film Wall-E has been canceled as of today, according to an official announcement from the official site of the tiny bot.

Touted to be similar to other home assistants such as the Echo or Alexa but complete with an adorably expressive face and the ability to move around, the device would have the ability to express emotions and to interact in unique ways with buyers, including sporting a host of functions that have become standard to housebots and voice assistants. The bot’s eyes featured integrated HD cameras streaming at 1080p, 60 frames per second as it rolled around home environments on a pair of terrain-adaptive treads.

It was also equipped with a mapping technology that allows it to track environments and find its way around homes with relative ease, keeping it free of walls, cliffs, or flights of stairs.

An internal “heart light” allowed it to light up different colors depending on its mood, so a user would always know what the little dude was thinking and feeling. The light would also produce a bit of extra heat, which would contribute to the feeling that Kuri is “alive”.

Kuri was also equipped with a powerful set of speakers, and learning AI technology allowed it to track your favorite music and connect to streaming services. It’s a speaker that follows you around the house, perfect for any house party.

When it’s not playing music or being generally adorable, Kuri’s main function is to capture tiny, 5-second snippets of your daily life at home which allow you to see yourself from a different perspective. The HD cameras in its eyes ensure these snippets are of high quality, and also have the ability to track and recognize the faces of family members and pets, which will make sure the little guy is always where the action is.

Users would be able to access these clips through a phone app, browsing through tiny moments of their daily lives as quickly and easily as browsing through posts on a social media app. From there, they could save a few favorites or sort them into albums for later viewings.

It’s not exactly fun listing off all the awesome features of this tiny robot that may, as of today, never become a reality. But for one reason or another, (the official statement is very vague) the task of designing this bot proved too much for the development team.

The bot’s fate is not set in stone, however. The team stated that they were to halt production and discuss their options, so it’s totally possible for them to receive an angel donation from some wealthy tech-minded individual or turn to a partnership with a larger company.

So keep your hopes up for Kuri. One look at this adorable face,

And you know it would keep its hopes up for you.

All images via the Kuri official site (HeyKuri)