Keecker: a French projector robot that ran out of cash
Keecker was a French home robot that carried a projector and speakers from room to room. It went on sale in 2017, but the company ran out of money and closed in March 2019.
Timeline
- 2014.01CES debutParis startup
- 2014.10KickstarterOver $200,000 in 2 weeks
- 2017.09Backer shipping
- 2017.10On saleFrom 1,790 euros in France
- 2019.03Company closedServer features ended
From a $4,000 estimate to $1,790
Keecker was a home robot made by the company of the same name, founded in Paris in 2012 by former Google product manager Pierre Lebeau. It was first shown at CES in January 2014. Its egg-shaped body rolled from room to room, projecting video onto walls and playing music. Cameras and sensors let it watch over the home too. At CES the expected price was $4,000–5,000. The product that arrived in 2017 had a 1,000-lumen projector, weighed 8.5 kg and started at $1,790.
Shipping more than two years late
The Kickstarter campaign in October 2014 raised about 79% of its $100,000 goal on the first day and passed $200,000 within two weeks. Backers were told to expect units in April 2015. The date slipped to June 2016, and in January 2017 a Taiwanese outlet reported that nothing had shipped yet. The first units reached backers in September 2017, and sales began in October at the BHV Marais department store in Paris. The company closed a €4.5 million round the same month. In March 2019 it shut down. Lebeau said Keecker "ran out of cash" as it was unable to find investors to keep the company going.
Over 1,000 robots, 3.5 hours a day
At closure Lebeau said there were over 1,000 robots out there, used 3.5 hours a day on average. A final update on 8 March 2019 removed the robot’s dependence on Keecker’s servers. Remote video access, home analytics and video calls stopped; basic media playback kept working. Earlier reviews were mixed. Engadget noted in 2014 that the robot was rather big. In 2017 an Inverse writer said: "And while Keecker still has its kinks and bugs I think this idea isn't all that farfetched, if it wasn't for the price."
It cut its server ties before closing
Like Jibo, Keecker lost features when its company disappeared. The difference is that it shipped an update before closing so the robot could run without the company’s servers. Video and music playback survived. Features that needed the company’s connection, such as remote video access, went with it.
Did you decide from the start which features will remain after the company is gone?
What we haven’t confirmed
- The final Kickstarter total and number of backers
- Actual units sold (the 1,000 figure comes from the founder)
- How many Keeckers are still in use
- The size of the CES 2014 prototype (sources swap its height and width)
Sources
- Engadget, “Keecker is an Android-powered robot that projects video onto your walls,” 9 January 2014
- Android Authority, “Meet Keecker, an expensive, smart Android projector robot that follows you around to entertain you,” 12 January 2014
- Crowdfund Insider, report on the first day of Keecker’s Kickstarter, 15 October 2014
- FrenchWeb, “[Start-up BizDev] Scality signe avec HP, Keecker passe à la commercialisation…,” 17 October 2014
- Tech Xplore, “Kickstarter project – KEECKER – rolling robot entertainment center,” 2014
- Clubic, “Keecker : entre domotique et objet connecté, le robot roulant d'une entreprise française,” 31 October 2014
- BusinessNext (數位時代), report on Keecker’s shipping delay, 17 January 2017
- New Atlas, “Keecker finally makes a play for living room dominance,” 4 October 2017
- FrenchWeb, “Keecker, le robot autonome qui veut révolutionner l'expérience multimédia à la maison,” 15 November 2017
- Inverse, “Ex-Googler Showed Us an R2D2-Like Robot Made to Replace TV and Home Gadgets,” 29 November 2017
- The Robot Report, “Keecker consumer robotics company shuts down,” 18 March 2019