Cozmo
- Compatible ios or android device and free downloadable cozmo app required. New games and upgrades are unlocked the more you play.
- Durability and security have been rigorously tested.
- The cozmo sdk beta is a connected robotics platform for makers, hobbyists, educators and researchers. More details at developer. Anki. Com.
- 1 cozmo robot; 1 charger; 3 power cubes.
Only the coolest robot ever invented. Say Hello to cozmo, a gifted little guy who’s got a mind of his own and a few tricks up his sleeve. He’s the sweet spot where supercomputer meets loyal sidekick. He’s curiously smart, a little mischievous, and unlike anything ever created. You see, cozmo is a real-life robot like you’ve only seen in movies, with a one-of-a-kind personality that evolves the more you hang out. He’ll nudge you to play and keep you constantly surprised. More than a companion, co
List Price: $ 179.99
Price: $ 179.99
Related Robot Products
Promising with a lot of potential,
Iâve only had him for 2 days, but here are some first impressions.
Pros:
– Set up was fairly simple and painless, and I was able to start playing with Cozmo within 5 minutes of taking him out of the box.
– Cozmo reminds me a lot of Disneyâs Wall-E. Heâs a robot, but itâs easy to feel like he has emotions. The animations that his eyes play, and his subtle movements really go a long way to make him feel more realistic. Cozmo will nudge you to play with him, bring a block up to you and ask you to play a game with him, or even act upset if he canât accomplish what heâs trying to do.
– There are only two games that you can play with Cozmo right now, and he gets better the more you play with him. However, there really needs to be a variation as these two games can get tiring easily.
– Cozmo has an âadventureâ mode, where you can drive him around like a remote control car and see things through his point of view. This is one of my favorite features of his.
– The companion mobile app gives you daily goals to motivate you to interact with Cozmo more. Iâve found that this is mostly why Iâve been play with Cozmo day after day.
Cons:
– You interact with Cozmo by having the app open, and it is only when the app is open that Cozmo is âaliveâ and roaming around. This feels really inconvenient for me. I imagined that I would be able to just let Cozmo roam around as I did my own thing, but this canât happen unless the app is on at all times. This also makes it impossible to takes pictures or videos of Cozmo while playing with him.
– The app connects to Cozmo through Cozmoâs own WiFi network, which means you have to disconnect from your correct Wifi / mobile network, and pair with Cozmo. This has prove inconvenient in many instances. Sometimes my phone is still connected to Cozmo and I forget about it, causing my phone to not have internet without me remembering why. Other times itâs simply a hassle to have to connect to a new Wifi network every time I want to play with Cozmo. I wish he was connected through Bluetooth instead.
– The 3 cubes that come with Cozmo arenât rechargeable, so Iâm worried that theyâll quickly die without any way to replace their batteries.
– Iâve only spent about 2 hours total with Cozmo so far, but it seems like Iâve already unlocked all his available features and games. At first I was very engaged because I wanted to help him unlock more moves and get better at games. However, now that all the moves have been unlocked, Iâm less prone to interact with Cozmo.
The thing Iâm most excited about now is playing with Cozmoâs SDK, which will hopefully allow me to unlock more of his potential and create abilities for him myself.
Other than that, Iâve realized that a lot of the experience of owning Cozmo comes from discovering things that you didnât expect. Heâs like a new pet that youâre still trying to figure out. For $180, itâs a hefty price for this small robot. I probably wouldnât recommend getting it for kids under 12 just to entertain them, as I can see them getting bored of Cozmo after a few days. Most of the potential seems to be in the SDK thatâs open to developers who wish to further develop Cozmo. Other than that, unless Anki starts coming out with new games and features for Cozmo, I canât see this product being a good gift to keep kids occupied.
UPDATE :
I just spent a bit of time with the SDK, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to set things up (although it’s worth noting that I am a full-time software engineer). I was able to issue custom commands to Cozmo within 5 minutes. There are 10+ scripts that are included in the examples from Anki, and I was able to run all of them successfully with ease. My favorite ones were having Cozmo sing the scale, setting an alarm with Cozmo, and having Cozmo patrol and detect intruders in your room. The fact that Cozmo has the potential do these these type of tasks gives me a lot of hope about what the future holds. I’m pretty excited about writing some more custom scripts of my own to test the limits of Cozmo.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Cozmo quick-tapped his way into our hearts . . .,
Customer Video Review Length:: 5:44 Mins
OK, we’ve had Cozmo for two days. The Anki website pre-order arrived as promised, two days before general release. I’ll continue to update this review as we play with him more and his abilities expand, but here are my first thoughts:
SUMMARY
==========
Wow, this little guy is Amazing! Overall, he holds up 100% to the promise that Anki made in their videos and promo materials. That’s rare in tech today. The critical question straight away: « Is he worth the rather hefty (for a toy) price tag? » I can say yes (5 stars) for TWO reasons: FIRST, having purchased many other toys of this type for my four kids (ages 3 to 11), Cozmo is the MOST FUN right out of the box. We own two Lego Mindstorms EV3 sets, a $700 investment, but Cozmo’s learning curve is much easier and ALL the kids can play with him. My 3-year-old girl especially finds him adorable (and Cozmo throws tantrums just like she does, so perhaps that’s why!), but the older two (10 and 11) like him for a different purpose, which is actually the SECOND reason from above: they are both learning Python from online courses, so we anticipate using the Python-based SDK and I’ll update this review when we’ve taken the time to download it. Right now it’s too much fun unlocking the different levels and completing the goals, so we can’t foresee getting bored anytime soon.
WHO SHOULD BUY (TARGET CUSTOMER?)
=======================================
My friend at work has been making fun of my pre-order countdown for Cozmo’s arrival, but he’s at a different stage of life. I have younger kids and they are heavily into learning games (which is why I decided to start Learn Richly, see my site in my profile), so if you’re like me and you have some older and some younger kids, Cozmo can entertain them all. I think adults or teens who don’t want to program will get tired of him, but for me and my family, it’s been worth the wait. You need to have a good mobile device (we use an iPad) and need to have a big table (we have a cheap plastic folding one), but otherwise those are the only requirements. Cozmo is fun for my 4 kids, ages 3, 6, 10 and 11, and I enjoy playing his more difficult games as well (I’m quickly approaching 40, so hopefully Cozmo’s reaction-time games will keep me spry). If you’re more into video games and aren’t a robot freak, you may feel differently. I grew up with Johnny 5 as a kid and fell in love with Wall-E in my 20s, so Cozmo is the first character I’ve owned that truly pays homage to those lovable, laughable droids, especially their feeling of « sentience. »
WHAT’S INCLUDED
===================
–Cozmo
–Charging base with USB cord attached (be careful, it feels somewhat thin and isn’t detachable) that can charge Cozmo’s tiny battery VERY quickly
–2-amp USB charger, also useful for my phone or iPad
–Typically useless quick-start guide (I’ve never been patient enough to read these types of things until days later or never)
–Excellent packaging, suitable for long-term storage and display of Cozmo (if you own a GoPro, it’s a candy-color yellow cardboard copy of GoPro’s all-plastic display stand packaging from Hero3/4)
BUT WHAT CAN HE *DO*?
======================
He « learns » and « grows », which just means you have to play with Cozmo to keep unlocking various abilities, and fortunately there’s no way, yet, to buy more coins or whatnot like a typical ripoff mobile game. If they start doing this, I’ll be pretty mad, having invested a sizable chunk upfront and not wanting in-app purchases to tempt my little ones. Right now we’ve unlocked 4 « apps » (see my photo attached to this review):
–« Meet Cozmo », where he takes your picture and learns your name (pretty silly, but the young kids love it)
–« Quick Tap », which gets uber-hard when you have 4 colors and Cozmo is feeling his oats. The older kids hate this mode since it’s pretty challenging. I personally think the hard mode is pretty stinkin’ fun, and it’s definitely a clever use of the cubes.
–« Keepaway », which is enthralling for my 3-year-old. Having no younger siblings, she never gets to play this where she can actually win, but now she’s winning against Cozmo about half the time. It’s not hard at all for the older kids, but it’s still hilarious to listen to the suspenseful orchestra music from the iPad and watch the hysterics Cozmo performs when he’s trying to fake you out.
–« Explorer Mode », similar to driving mode on my Dash robot. Great for younger kids, especially to let them drive using the camera’s live view on the iPad. I haven’t tested the range for this yet, but with Wi-Fi I suspect it’s pretty far. See the monochrome photo attached, and make sure you’re NOT on a table for this one, since it would be easy to drive off.
Other abilities we…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?
|Oct 16, 2016, 8:56:47 PM PDT
A Genuine Robot Companion,
At the moment, there are two real games to play with him. One is « Keep Away », which is fun, and not as easy of a win as a human might think. The other is a « Color Match » game using his flashing cubes. We’re up to 3 colors per cube, and that can be a little dicy. Again, not as simple to win these games as one might think. When he wins, he does a little celebration, when you win, he gets frustrated and can pout a bit. If Cozmo wants to play a game and you say « No » he will be a little sad, but just for a little while.
You accrue points as you complete daily tasks or activities. These can then be used to unlock features and behaviors. Took a little while but I managed to get to the activity when you take control of him. You see through his camera and steer him around. All the while he is commenting in his special language. The best part, in my opinion is his reaction when you break that rather invasive connection. I really wish there was an option to take a picture through his « eyes ». I have yet to try a simple screenshot from the phone. That may work.
He comes in an attractive box, that holds his charger, three cubes, as well as Cozmo. If you are careful, you can reuse the clamp that holds him in place for safekeeping.
I did notice that my cellphone sure ate up its battery while I was engaged with Cozmo. The next time I made sure that the phone was plugged in. The phone also seemed rather warm, but that could be because I do own a Samsung, and one of their features is the comfort of excess heat.
There are supposed to be future updates and games coming. He is also supposed to continue to learn and display behaviors and emotions. I don’t think he will actually go back to and sit in his charger, as I have had to manually place him there each time. I also don’t think he can hear you. Lack of hearing might be a good thing since I don’t want him getting any ideas when I am watching Westworld.
Yes, he is a little on the expensive side, but you do get quite a bit, and there is the « Wow factor » and the unmentioned « cuteness ». I am sure a child would get a big kick out of this item, but not sure what age is best for unsupervised play. In any event, adults will likely get just as much enjoyment from this delightful, and sometimes cantankerous little robot. There are so many little things that will be a joy to discover on your own. Cozmo does have the makings to be a real entertaining robot companion. Just wait until he looks up at you and says your name.
Was this review helpful to you?
|