Got an Extra $500? Buy Jibo, the Family Robot

Jibo just launched. This robot is essentially a smartphone on a stick, but with the addition of an Uncanny Valley voice and a few “facial features,” Jibo becomes a fully-fledged, fully-creepy member of your family. (Watch the YouTube video above to see exactly what Jibo can do.)

The strangest and most interesting part about Jibo is that Jibo only costs $500. It’s a price point that makes Jibo feel extremely accessible — something that’s probably less money than a lot of other family or personal expenses. Some people might save up for a Jibo, but for a lot of families (as well as, say, people living in studio apartments who have dreamed about the robot future for years), Jibo can be an impulse buy.

And that “impulse buy” feeling was exactly what I had after watching to the end of the commercial. Jibo is hilariously unnerving, but I have an extra $500 and I really want to blow it on a Jibo.

The first thing I would do would be to tell it to answer to “Pintsize.”

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