GetRobo Blog English

Here comes Xachi - an iPhone controlled robotic toy

 GetRobo believes that the combination of smartphones and robots is going to be one of the biggest trends in 2011. (In Japan, some people call it the "Sumaho-robo" - short for "smart phone robots.") There's already the quadrotor helicopter AR.Drone on the market, and a robotic ball Sphero that was announced at this year's CES.

 Another product slated to come out later this year is Xachi (pronounced Zachi) Pet  which is being developed by Taptic Toys . This first product by the company targets the kids/tween market but the technology has a lot of potential for various types of products in the future.

 GetRobo interviewed Taptic Toys President David Cann (D) and Greg Munson (G) who's in charge of business development to learn about Xachi and their company. Also, although we did not talk about it in the interview below, they've just come out with a game for your iOS device called Xachi Command, which is a great marketing strategy that will lead to the launch of the furrier friend. 

 
     (Photo: Xachi Pets)
 
Q. Please tell us about your company, Taptic Toys. 
 
D) We started in 2009 after Apple announced that people could create third party hardware for the iPhone and iPod touch. Our other co-founder Romina (Espinosa) thought it would be great to have a toy that can connect to the iPhone. A Furby-type toy, but something that people could interact with. Every kid wants to have an iPhone or iPod touch for Christmas. So we thought if we could integrate and connect the cool games and abilities of the phone with the actual physical toy, we could have a unique product that kids would love.  
  So I brought in my other friends Marc (DeVidts) and Greg. Marc is a great hardware designer and I do software so we formed a company together and we’ve been working on it. We made a prototype in 6 months and went to the Toy Fair in New York in Feb. 2010. We’re now in the manufacturing stage.
 
Q. When is your product coming out?
 
D) Sometime in the first half of this year. 
 
Q. How does it work and what’s it going to do?
 

Neato to upgrade software via USB for vacuuming robot

  Last summer, Neato Robotics came out with it's robotic vacuum cleaner XV-11, which is equipped with a low-cost laser rangefinder that enables the robot to map the room and go around cleaning without hitting the furniture. As the company ramps up manufacturing and addresses the initial quality issues, it is also preparing to release software upgrades utilizing the robot's USB port. GetRobo visited the company and talked with CEO Max Safai to learn about the latest.  (This interview was conducted originally for a column on the Wall Street Journal Japan. The following is an edited transcription of the conversation.) 

 

(Photo: Neato Robotics CEO Max Safai) 

Q. What is the initial feedback you are getting from your customers?

A. Overall, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I’m very happy about that. Our product is a first of its kind. The customers cannot believe the fact that it’s a smart robot. It doesn’t just bounce around and they are very surprised by the cleaning power it has.

 If you look at the demographics of people who are really happy with the product right now, pet owners is the major section. They can’t believe how much hair it picks up and therefore love our product. They are also very impressed that hair does not wrap itself around our brush. All the other vacuuming robots - and also the upright vacuum cleaner - they need a lot of maintenance. People love that our robot requires little maintenance. 

Q. I’ve read the reviews on Amazon.com and you seem to have many very happy customers but also a few very unhappy ones. How are you addressing the feedback from the unhappy customers?

A. The only difference between a happy customer and an unhappy one is that the unhappy customer got a product that was not manufactured to our quality standards.

 To introduce our new product, we had to design all the manufacturing fixtures to produce the product. When one is making a product that is rather unique, you go to the manufacturing floor and they don’t know how to build it. How do you assemble it, test it and make sure of the quality? We have designed a lot of the test fixtures and assembly fixtures and actually wrote a lot of the test software. And we had to go to China and train the factory on how to use them. So they’re learning. It’s not that the product is not ready to be produced, but that the manufacturing floor has a learning curve to digest as well. So we are addressing it.

 And of course, what contributes to the disappointment (of the customers) is that these are early customers and they are all very enthusiastic about the product and they have high expectations. They placed their order and sometimes they waited up to 4-8 weeks to get it. Finally the robot comes, and it doesn’t work. It’s a normal human reaction to become upset.

 But if they call the company, we basically replace the robot - no questions asked. We ask them to send the robot back and then we send them a replacement. I’ve asked everybody here (at Neato) to test the replacements before they send them out so that we are 100% sure of the quality of the second product that the unhappy customer is getting. 

Q. Can you share any sales numbers? 

A. No, but thanks for asking. 

Q. The Roomba is selling well in Japan. Any plans for Neato to enter the Japanese market?