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We chat with founder of Pophie Xiaosheng Lin about a new AI companion for children.
"Hello everyone, I'm Alex here, live at CES. Today we're talking about Pofi.
This is possibly the world's cutest robot. It's the first AI life form.
It's got a lot of stuff going on about it. It can hear me talking about it, as I'm talking right now."
"I'm here, we're going to be talking about it.
So, what should people be excited about about Pofi? What can it do?
What makes it different from, say, a regular toy?
It has a vision agency, and multi-person conversation, and bio-coherences."
"It can actually see what's behind it.
It doesn't just react to what you said, but also what's happening, who's there.
When you call his name, call her name, it will turn towards you.
But when you are chatting with others, it won't react, but just keep silence."
"Also, it has its own emotion.
For example, if you ask her to lift his hand one time, maybe she will follow your instruction.
But if you ask her to raise her left hand 1,000 times, she might get angry and refuse your request.
So, she's got her own personality, basically."
"Yes, yes. It also has her own memory.
It will remember a different person by their face or their voice.
It will recognize your family member.
So, I've just had a bit of a stroke here, and she's very soft, I have to say."
"How did you guys come up with the design of Pofi? What did you go for?
Did you try and mix a bunch of cute creatures, or did you just think about what you can make in terms of the internal processing as well?
We think if you want to make a better companionship, you need to be round and furry.
It also has so many cute emotions, reactions, and nice characteristics."
"So, you said it's got long-term memory. How far does that go, and how much of a relationship can someone build with Pofi?
It depends on the object. For example, if your name, your birthday, your age, that kind of thing is really long, really long.
Like, never forget. But if you told her something, like maybe you have an appointment tomorrow, she will remind you tomorrow, and after a few months, she will forget that."
"And the specific conversation, the dialogue you talk with her will forget, but its memory will be organized into some specific memories.
So, with the AI model then, is this something that you've built specifically for Pofi?
And what sort of personality do you get with it? Is it something where, say, I can mold my own Pofi, or will each Pofi be different depending on the owner?
Depending on how you get along with it, how you talk with it, and how you interact with it, it will become different, each Pofi."
"This is aimed at a younger audience, this product.
For maybe parents who are a bit skeptical about AI and having a product for children, what would you say to calm those people who might be a bit fearful of AI, I guess?
You mean someone might be a little bit afraid of AI?
Yeah, we have some strict constrictions, especially for kids."
"For example, we can't talk about violence on the set with the kids.
I think in this day, a lot of companies have made some strict restrictions with AI.
So, where can people find Pofi? Is it available now, or is it coming out in the next few weeks?
We are targeting crowdfunding on Kickstarter, April 26th."
"Besides that, you can visit our website to join our waitlist.
How much would something like this cost? Do you also get this full set up as the little pod as well, or is this specific for CES?
Yeah, this device is specific for CES because it's too crowded here."
"So, we want to make the sound louder or collect a better voice, so we put extra devices.
Normally, it's just Pofi and its pedestal here.
When you put it on the charger, it can charge wirelessly, and the estimated price will be around $300 to $400."
"How long does it charge last then?
You mean how long does the battery last?
One to two hours.
Oh, cool. So, enough time to play around for a bit and then put it back on."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, Jiaoxin, that's all I've got for you today.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
And thank you, Pofi."
"Thank you.
It didn't connect to the Wi-Fi.
Oh, that's fine. The Wi-Fi signal is horrible down here, Pofi.
Don't worry about it. It's not your fault."
