After the company announced its latest foldable phone, "Mix Fold 2," Cyber One took to the stage to greet CEO, Lee Jin, and handed him a flower.
The robot has a slow and somewhat confusing movement and stance, which prompts comparisons between it and the robot "Atlas" from the company "Boston Dynamics".
Robotics enthusiasts may also remember that last year Xiaomi announced a CyberDog that works as impressively as the Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics robots.
However, these products are a sign of Xiaomi's ambition in the robotics market, as well as the broader trend of consumer electronics companies to build robots, even if most designs are a marketing model for commercial events.
Robots and the economy
Even Tesla announced that it would join the robotics market, as CEO Elon Musk recently stated that the electric car company will reveal new details about its Optimus robot next September, and Musk said - during Intelligence Day. Last year's artificial intelligence at Tesla - Robots like Tesla's Optimus "will change our idea of economics".
Several other major brands, including LG and Samsung, have recently demonstrated the robots at their major product launches.
As with the Optimus Mask show, little is known about the specifications of the newly unveiled Xiaomi Cyber One.
One thing we do know, is that Xiaomi is investing a lot in developing its own bots. During the launch event, Li Jin also noted, “Both artificial intelligence and mechanical capabilities in Cyber One are developed by Xiaomi Robotics Lab. We have invested heavily in research and development in various areas, including software, hardware and algorithm innovation. ".
In a press release, Xiaomi noted that "humanoid robots rely on vision to process their surroundings. Equipped with a self-developed depth vision unit called Mi-Sense and integrated with an interaction algorithm that uses artificial intelligence, Cyber One can also perceive 3D space as well. By recognizing individuals, gestures and expressions, allowing them not only to see their environment but also to process it.”
Recognize feelings
Xiaomi also says that Cyber One is equipped with a MiAI chip, which allows it to "recognize 85 types of environmental sounds and 45 categories of human emotions."
According to Xiaomi, the chip includes detecting feelings of happiness, and it also allows the robot to comfort people when they are feeling sad.
But the company hasn't explained how the robot actually does it, despite the cute way Cyber One handed that flower to Lee Jin.
Compare it to Optimus - Musk's name borrowed from the main robot in the Transformers movie series - and it looks like Optimus will take on the repetitive, boring tasks that humans hate.
An emotional robot, not an athlete
Xiaomi is somewhat ambiguous when it comes to the real-world applications of Cyber One; In the future, the company says, the robot can be used for any purpose, from manufacturing to human companionship.
But as Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot continues to impress with its athletic ability, Xiaomi has purposefully taken a different approach, which was highlighted in a promotional video for Cyber One.
The Xiaomi robot has medium skill and poor movement, so it seems that it is designed - in the first place - to interact with humans on an emotional level. But we will need more than a brief technical presentation to see if Xiaomi can deliver on this noble promise.
Regardless of the job that the robot will perform, the question remains for the audience interested in this technology: who will launch the first robot that can be affordable?