Jibo

History

Jibo Inc., based in Boston, Mass., was cofounded by Cynthia Breazeal, an MIT professor who pioneered the field of social robotics. In 2014, Breazeal's team unveiled Jibo, a personal robot designed as a companion and helper to families. With a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, Jibo amassed US $3.7 million in preorders. The company said the robot, equipped with speech recognition and full of character, would be able to check the weather, read the news, snap pictures, and tell jokes, among other things.

But by the time Jibo started arriving in homes, in late 2017, much of its functionality could be found in smartphones and voice assistants like Alexa and Google Home. Jibo received mixed reviews, and its capabilities and "personality" worked for some people, but left others disappointed.

In November 2018, Jibo Inc. closed its office and completed the sale of its assets and intellectual property to a New York–based investment management firm.

After a software update in early 2019, Jibo displayed a goodbye message, telling users that most of its functionality would be lost once its servers are turned off. Hundreds of Jibo owners continue to share information about their robots on Facebook groups.