Robots get smarter at CES

Artificial intelligence got a lot of attention at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year. Much of that attention was on stationary home assistants like the Amazon Echo. As these home assistants become popular, more companies are thinking about how AI can be used to improve home robots as well. In some ways, the Amazon Echo is a robot without wheels. Makers at CES are showing how AI can be implemented in robots in some genuinely innovative ways.

One robot at the show was Leka, a product designed to help children with developmental disabilities such as autism learn to be more communicative. Leka is a spherical robot that rolls around on flat surfaces, similar to the BB-8 Star Wars robot that was popular in 2015. Leka encourages interaction using different colored LEDs, music and other noises. It also has a screen that can display an emotive facial expressions or other photo and video content. This likewise allows for the educational games that are Leka's main selling point.

Mayfield Robotics is another company that appears to have really made the Echo on wheels. This is not to be unfair to Kuri, which is a cuter and more expressive home assistant. However, the robot is designed to help people around the home and control other connected devices using IFTTT. Kuri has a camera, so it can follower users around the house and record 1080p videos. It can even act as a security feed when people check in through an app for iOS and Android.

Other companies have designed more educational home assistants, but not all are meant to be robots in the traditional sense. Mattel made Aristotle to be a voice assistant for children, because assistants like the Amazon Echo and Google Home had problems understanding toddlers. Aristotle does not have wheels or a face. Like Home or Echo, it looks like a fancy Bluetooth speaker, although this one costs $300. However, the purpose of the device is the same as any other educational robot. It can play games such as having children identify the colors of its LED lights. Aristotle is not designed for the smart home. Controlling lights and TVs is not its purpose.

As AI helps robots become more sophisticated, they are diversifying into different niche markets and come equipped with very different capability. Mattel's Aristotle shows the difference between a mere smart home assistant and an educational robot is not always clear. What is clear, however, is that the intelligence of a robot is now critical to its success.