Startup Limibit organized a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to develop a smart companion, Dolly. The robot can express emotions and learns from the actions of people. You can play with it like a living creature and also use it as a platform in STEM education.
Dolly reacts to people’s actions thanks to built-in sensors and a speech recognition system. The user can ask Dolly for the weather forecast and even control it using voice commands. In addition, the formation of the character of an AI companion directly depends on the behavior of its owner.
The authors position Dolly as a robot that develops with the user, and its capabilities are not limited to executing voice commands. The companion is equipped with an 8-megapixel camera, allowing it to take pictures and recognize faces, and the robot is also equipped with motion and touch sensors, so it can respond to changes around it. In addition, it is able to avoid obstacles, avoid falling from surfaces and find a charging station, making Dolly completely autonomous.
Dolly can be used in STEM education in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence and programming, and the developers used Raspberry Pi as the hardware platform.
Fundraising is currently underway on Kickstarter, where the robot can be ordered for $251. Dolly is planned to be launched into mass production in the summer of 2024.