The latest
educational tech comes in the form of a seven-pound robot that looks like
something ripped out of a Pixar movie. Moxie, an adorable educational robot, is
designed for teaching kids at home. But it’s expensive: the robot itself is
$1,500, and it requires a $60 monthly subscription after the first year.
Embodied,
the robotics and AI Company behind Moxie, says the robot will teach kids ages
six through nine using weekly themes and lessons designed to promote cognitive,
emotional, and social learning.
Kids will be tasked with helping Moxie explore
and learn human experiences and life skills, like learning new words or
chatting about significant experiences like going to the dentist. Parents will
be able to control Moxie through a “parent app,” which will let them check
their child’s progress and limit their Moxie usage.
Moxie is
slated to be released sometime this fall. Fast Company did a deep dive into
Embodied’s design process behind the product. Privacy and
security issues have been a big concern when it comes to making educational
tech for kids, and Moxie is unlikely to be an exception.
Moxie’s data will be
encrypted, with parents or guardians being the only ones able to access the
data for their particular unit, Embodied founder Paolo Pirjanian said during an
interview with Fast Company. But Moxie still has a lot of tech that can be used
for interacting with and monitoring those nearby:
it has four microphones
inside its head and a camera located on the front. Other kids’ tech, like a
smart Barbie and an attempted smart kids speaker, have run into controversy due
to the privacy implications of building microphones into toys meant for kids.
Several
companies have tried to make friendly robots to interact with at home in recent
years. There’s Aibo, Sony’s $2,900 robotic pet, plus Jibo, a family robot that
was successfully crowdfunded only to flop a couple years into its life span.
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