The First Robot Many People Loved Is Getting a Second Life

Last year in I wrote about a story from WIRED about the unexpectedly real sense of loss that many owners of the Jibo robot were feeling when its parent company announced they would no longer be supporting the social bot. Now another company has acquired the rights and patents to Jibo and have plans for a bold new future in healthcare and education for the robot that has become newly relevant thanks to the pandemic. For years Jibo has offered perhaps the most advanced case study of how humans can connect with a machine built with empathy. Now that Jibo is getting ready for a new life of utility that goes beyond the original vision as a social robot for the home, it will be interesting to watch what new lessons Jibo can teach us.