Samsung plans to compete with Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Echo by releasing their own personal assistant robot. But unlike the bodiless Siri, and Echo, which is housed in a plain black pillar, Samsung’s Otto has been designed with a more interactive form that includes a small screen to display facial features. Otto has a distinct ‘head’ and ‘body’ and is capable of bobbing its head along to music.
In addition to being just plain cute, Otto possesses many of the same capabilities as other AI assistants. The little robot will be equipped with a microphone and speakers to receive and answer questions. It will be able to control any other devices which the user has connected to it, making it smart home friendly.
Otto also has an HD camera with facial recognition software, so that it can more easily interact with users and also function as a security camera. Otto’s face/screen can show a number of different animations, such as rain drops to reflect the current weather. Sadly, Otto is not available at the moment for purchase. The prototype was unveiled at Samsung’s developer conference, but hopefully a version of Otto will be commercially available soon. If nothing else, it’s a lot more personable than Amazon’s Echo.
