Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Embodied Rolls Out Companion Robot, Moxie

Pasadena-based robotics developer Embodied, led by Paolo Pirjanian, the former CTO of iRobot, said this morning that it has launched Moxie, the company's first product. The company said Moxie is an "animate companion" aimed at helping to promote social, emotional, and cognitive learning for children. The company says its robot incorporates machine learning technology, which it says allows it to perceive, process and respond to natural conversation, eye contact, facial expressions and other behavior as well as recognize and recall people, places, and things. Embodied's website said the robot will ship sometime this fall, and will cost $1,499. The company is currently taking reservations for $50. Embodied said it collaborated with designer Yves Behar's design firm, fuseproject, on the design. The company is venture backed by Intel Capital, Toyota AI Ventures, Amazon Alexa Fund, Sony Innovation Fund, JAZZ Venture Partners, Calibrate Ventures, Osage University Partners, Grishin Robotics, and Vulcan Capital.