Embodied, the company behind the Moxie robot, announced on May 6 that it has acquired conversational artificial intelligence firm, Kami Computing.
This move advances the company in reaching its grand aim of developing interactive AI devices capable of holding extended and comprehensive conversations with human beings.
Kami Computing's recent acquisition by Embodied strengthens the company’s desire to be a leading force in human-robot communication technology.
Paolo Pirjanian, Embodied’s Founder and CEO, said "The next big wave in technology will be driven by human-machine interfaces."
"Kami's technology helps us continue developing category-defining technology to create social-emotional robots that have the power to fight the loneliness epidemic and change people's lives," he added.
The robot is built to aid the development of both the emotional and social skills of the children through interactions. The focus is on concepts such as respect, friendship, and kindness. It was also named one of Time's best 2020 inventions.
Moxie is a blue robot with a face and gestures that are emotionally expressive. It just stands on a table and functions. The robot is programmed to act like Animates, a lifelike character created by the company.
The robot is an electronic character with a long-term memory, lifelike voice tone, emotions, and advanced cognition. It can provide open topic interactions on a human level.
Embodied intends to include the technology into its SocialX system, which is designed to allow kids to interact with Moxie naturally that contains body language, facial expressions, and more.
The challenge of Amazon Alexa, according to an Embodied representative, is to take 20 minutes of the overall discussion. Embodied says it can already keep its users engaged for 25 minutes on average regularly.
With the purchase of Kami Computing, Embodied will be likely to progress its activities as a leader in human-robot communication. Machine learning, conversational AI, and natural language generation (NLG) are among the revolutionary technologies created by the startup.
According to Pirjanian, machine learning and artificial intelligence are evolving at such a fast pace. The system might grow "exponentially" more sophisticated in the coming years.
Guy de Beer, Kami Computing’s Founder and CEO, said "We're thrilled to join Paolo and the Embodied team as they embark on the exciting journey to change the future of robotics through lifelike, believable human-machine interaction.”
“Our conversational technology will have an outstanding impact on interaction with Moxie as well as the development of future projects," he added.
