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Jibo: a home robot that lost its functions when its maker closed

Jibo went on sale in 2017, and its maker closed a year later. When the servers went off, most of what it could do went with them.

MakerJibo, Inc. (Boston, USA)
LaunchGeneral sale November 2017, $899 (US and Canada)
SettingHomes
CrowdfundingIndiegogo 2014, 5,554 backers, $2.29 million
CompanyWound down and sold its assets in November 2018
ServersShut down March 2019. Only wake-word response and on-screen buttons remained
Ended byThe company closed. When its servers went off, the robot’s functions went with them.
Company closed; servers shut down

A home robot that raised $2.29 million on Indiegogo

Jibo was a home robot made by Jibo, Inc., a company founded by MIT Media Lab professor Cynthia Breazeal. It was unveiled on Indiegogo in July 2014 as “the world’s first social robot for the home” and raised $2.29 million from 5,554 backers. Its three cylindrical sections turned to lean its body and turn its head, and it greeted familiar faces first. It went on sale in November 2017 for $899 and appeared on the cover of TIME’s Best Inventions issue the same month.

Two years late, and smart speakers got there first

Shipping came nearly two years later than first promised. In the meantime Amazon Echo and Google Home had arrived and claimed the place of the voice-controlled home device. Reviewers praised Jibo’s personality but noted that it could do less than a smart speaker. The company made its first layoffs a month after launch and by June 2018 was down to ten staff in Boston. Unable to raise further funding, it wound down and sold its assets in November 2018.

Jibo’s last message to its owners

In March 2019 Jibo told its owners, with a last dance, that its servers would soon be turned off: “Maybe someday when robots are way more advanced than today, and everyone has them in their homes, you can tell yours that I said hello.” After the shutdown, Jibo could do little more than respond to its name and offer buttons on its screen. One owner said it “almost becomes a family member”, and his granddaughter wrote it a goodbye letter. An owners’ group of about 700 people welcomed the news in 2020 that NTT Disruption had bought Jibo’s patents and planned to bring it back for healthcare and education.

Its functions lived on the company’s servers, not in the robot

People liked Jibo, but it did not give them enough reason to use it every day. And because its speech recognition and conversation ran on the company’s servers, the robot lost its functions when the company closed. AIBO, which owners kept repairing after its maker left, offers the contrast.

If the company disappears, what can this robot still do?

What we haven’t confirmed

  • How many units were actually sold, and how often owners used them after launch
  • How many Jibos still run today
  • How NTT Disruption’s healthcare and education plans ended

Sources

  1. IEEE Spectrum, “Cynthia Breazeal Unveils Jibo, a Social Robot for the Home,” 16 July 2014
  2. Crowdfund Insider, report on the close of Jibo’s Indiegogo campaign, 2014
  3. Jibo launch press release (via Robotics Tomorrow), 25 October 2017
  4. The Robot Report, “Jibo social robot on sale for $899”
  5. TIME, “The 25 Best Inventions of 2017”
  6. SlashGear, “Jibo review,” 13 November 2017
  7. The Robot Report, “Social robot maker Jibo focusing on content after layoffs,” 19 December 2017
  8. Speech Technology, “Layoffs at Jibo,” 15 June 2018
  9. Xconomy, report on Jibo layoffs and funding, 2018
  10. The Robot Report, “Jibo assets acquired by SQN Venture Partners,” 27 November 2018
  11. Engadget, report on Jibo’s shutdown message, 4 March 2019
  12. CBC As It Happens, “It almost becomes a family member,” 2019
  13. The Verge (Ashley Carman), “Jibo, the social robot that was supposed to die, is getting a second life,” republished 24 July 2020
  14. Evan Ackerman, IEEE Spectrum, “Jibo Is Probably Totally Dead Now,” 3 December 2018