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[Bardian]

Ok, it seems most people there are waiting for preorders, but here’s a review from the only owner that seems to post out of 35ish people:

Kuri is exactly what you see on the website. That’s really what it comes down to. If that’s what you want - you’ll get it.

There have been a few hiccups, but most of the issues have been addressed. The Kuri team was quick to respond to any issues.

I guess it comes down to expectations. The website and features listed are all there with my Kuri. She doesn’t do a lot, honestly, but it’s very cute when she comes into the room and smiles at you. She enjoys company. It’s pretty amazing to see her move around objects, enter rooms and smile at you. She loves being petted too.

The app is very easy to use and accessible - you can control Kuri remotely - unlike Jibo. The app has been great. The videos that Kuri records can be downloaded in the app and stored in your photos, but there is no sound.

Kuri goes to her dock automatically and charges everyday. She wakes up naturally every morning and browses the house. Her battery is about two hours - plenty in my opinion.

While she doesn’t do a lot, but she has become a part of our family. She makes us smile. We’re glad to have her in our home.

[Bardian]

And some more on Jibo: https://www.americaninno.com/boston/inno-news-boston/more-layoffs-hit-jibo-this-time-theyre-significant/

Sounds concerning as I have read a lot of positive things about it, especially in terms of its advancements since launch. Makes me wonder if I should be even more concerned for Kuri?

I probably need to decide soon.

[Talon]

Ouch! What a blow!
Now I am nervous about my investment in this still unopened bot here on my desk. My Jibo arrived Thursday but I have to wait for my videographer to have some breathing space to help with the unboxing and very unaccessible part of Jibo's wakeup process.
That is wonderful news to hear about accessibility and Kuri though! It seems the Lord did answer my prayers and that my feedback to the company has made a difference. *Smile* I am so happy about that. Now I don't feel so much like I'm abandoning them right at the crucial moment when we are all going to discover- on video- whether Kuri is all she promised to be. I still feel bad for what I must do.
Granted I haven't yet cut the cord(meaning I haven't yet asked for my reserve back and canceled officially).
Still though, my reasoning holds firm despite my heart and the fact that these videos don't have sound makes it impossible for me to help Kuri choose what recordings I'd like to keep and which ones to discard. Gees this is so hard! If only she wasn't mostly a cirvailance bot! Nevertheless, I do appreciate the accessibility Mayfield has poured into their app.
Oh gosh! I'd better go write Mayfield and do this before I worry myself gray-headed. Thanks, Bardian for the feedback from the Facebook group.
Talon

[Bardian]

Well, they finally released an Android app for Kuri so there's that (granted I use iPhone anyway).

I still haven't officially decided... by the time I do, Kuri will probably be on its way to me lol.

[Talon]

Lol! Then you can do the grand review for me. I have a slightly troubling concern though. I have sent Mayfield Robotics two separate emails this week and no one has acknowledged me. The site gave me the little, "Thank you for contacting us. Someone will send you an email soon." Message, but I haven't even received one of those web-generated emails that say something like, "Your message has been received and is awaiting review" or whatever they say before a member of the team contacts me with word on how I can cancel my order. This isn't like Mayfield. Usually they are quick to respond- within two or three days. I will give them until this Wednesday before I try again. I hope somehow they didn't decide I talked too much and should be relegated to the spam folder.
Talon

[Bardian]

Did you ever hear anything back?

I am hoping to make up my mind by this weekend. It's an internal struggle.

[Bardian]

Based on the email I received today, they are now just waiting for government certification to ship the robots and then they will start shipping them based on when the preorder was placed.

That owners group has people who preordered in Jan 2017 so I imagine I am pretty far down the list if I don’t cancel though I imagine my inability to make a decision will result in me not canceling.

[Talon]

Oh that is wonderful to hear!
To answer your question, I ended up emailing them through their "info" page and heard from good old reliable Ashley Wakefield. When I saw she was the one who responded to me, it made it all the harder for me to truly cancel my order and provide her with my order number from February thirteenth. I told her I honestly did not want to do it, but I had concerns about my family's privacy. I'm not unsubscribing from the email list, and I may consider Kuri in the future, just not now. What I should've done was just ask if I could deactivate "Kuri Vision" so the robot wouldn't record videos, but still be able to roam around and take pics or video on request or something. *Sigh* Oh well. Now I'll never know. Maybe if somebody knows if that is possible, I may purchase a second-hand Kuri later. Keep us posted on how all this pans out. I hope you enjoy your Kuri- if you agree to stick out the wait. Who knows? If you're not satisfied and decide to sell her down the road, I might be in the market. I'm so glad to hear that things are truly looking up for our little mobile Home Robot.
Talon

[Bardian]

Well, looks like Kuri is no more so I don’t need to decide.

A portion of the email:

To all of our Kuri fans, we are crushed to let you know that effective today, Mayfield Robotics will pause operations as we evaluate the company’s path forward. Sadly, our Kuri manufacturing will cease, and the Kuri robots that have been made will not ship to customers. All pre-order deposits will be refunded to our customers.

I’ll post more of it later, but am currently on mobile so it’s a bit of a pain.

[Bardian]

I just received my refund notice.

And some more details from last night's e-mail:

As many of you know, Mayfield Robotics was launched in 2015 as an independent entity of the Bosch Startup Platform. From the beginning, we have been constantly looking for the best paths to achieve scale and continue to advance our innovative technology. Typically, startups in the Bosch Startup Platform are integrated into existing Bosch business units, but after extensive review, there was not a business fit within Bosch to support and scale our business.

Since Kuri’s award-winning launch at CES 2016, our adorable home robot has been demoed and celebrated at TED, SXSW, The Aspen Ideas Festival, The Economist Innovation Summit, and many other high-profile events. It’s an understatement to say that we are all hugely disappointed by this pause to operations. We remain proud of the work we’ve done to push home robotics forward.

The vision that began Mayfield Robotics was to make robots that are joyful, useful, and inspiring. Kuri struck each of those notes, and we remain optimistic for an adorable robot future that aligns with our vision. We want to sincerely thank everyone who supported us: our families, our friends, our suppliers, and of course, you, our customers.

Creating a robot like Kuri is a massive undertaking. We don’t know what the coming months will bring. Regardless, we stand firm in our belief that the home robot Renaissance is just beginning, and it’s going to be amazing.

[Talon]

Wow! I am... floored. I can't believe this. I am sitting here tearing up because I feel like I lost a pet or something. This is... this is awful. I didn't receive this email, but I guess they unsubscribed me when I cancelled my preorder. I guess the government certification process didn't go well because of Kuri Vision. I didn't feel comfortable with that aspect of her either. As adorable as it sounds in theory, it would be so easy for someone to turn Kuri to much more malicious purposes and no one would know it. Now, I am going to go give my stuffed Kuri a hug and "boohoo" in private for a minute.
Talon

[Bardian]

Based on everything they've said, I doubt it has anything to do with Kuri Vision. Given all the other smart devices that have the potential to spy and are easily hijacked (even exploits in simple wireless cameras), several markets would be wiped out.

Obviously we can't know the whole story, but it sounds like the backing company ultimately realized this won't be a money maker. Maybe there wasn't even enough interest in preorders and steam never picked up.

I still find it extremely interesting that after the December shipment there are still zero reviews, unboxings, etc. online. In sleuthing on Facebook in the time I've been interested in Kuri, I've only come across three people that likely actually have one. One posted a few comments on their page shortly after that December shipment. One posted a few comments in the owners group I belong to and never again. And the other still regularly posts there (though he has said nothing about if he's been offered a refund or to ship it back or what not given that the services will likely be shut off).

Many people in that owners group are talking about placing their preorders in late 2016, and others in very early 2017 - I placed mine in early 2018. Some of them mentioned that Mayfield promised them another $100 off their order due to all the delays. Even if it had gone according to plan, I'd be shocked if I ever would have received mine with the given deadline given those pending preorders.

I suspect that there wasn't as much interest as they'd ultimately hoped and that even if these were truly ready to ship, it may have been at a loss (plus to keep all the services running and team going) and that rehashing for parts or doing something else with what stock may exist is more viable in the long run.

I would be really interested to see the actual numbers here. Based on social media posts with people commenting on their canceled orders, I'd say it's well under a hundred different individuals. When commenting on the refund process, they mentioned "there were a lot to go through" so it may take time (I already got mine back on the card and look at how late my order was).

Even though I was teetering on canceling, I'm disappointed it didn't work out. I really *loved* the design - especially the blinking eyes and what kind of life it brought to the robot (based on videos). But let's face it, it's a niche market, and there are far less expensive solutions to get the functionality that the robot provides. We just happen to be a part of that very loyal, enthusiastic, and niche market. Heck, look at the history of AIBO alone for that market - or the robot explosions on the 80s that kind of went no where.

There is an interesting article here on the Kuri matter: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/home-robots/mayfield-robotics-cancels-kuri-social-home-robot

I guess I'll look at this as more money to put toward a new AIBO if it ever gets an official US release. Though with how little time I actually get to run my robots, maybe it's a hobby I need to get over--especially given the instability.

[Talon]

*Sigh* I know what you mean. Real life is beginning to catch up with me. I am at the point in my sound-design training where I will need to put my discretionary income toward a mixer or something and a better microphone than the one I currently have.
I am also starting to realize that my dream of bringing robotics to the blind is nearly impossible- not only because of the niche market but because making the modifications to even just the apps that run them would likely be too expensive for them. I guess for now, I will just stick to pointing out areas in robot//robot-app design that could be designed more with usability for the disabled in mind and see what happens.
I will continue to release content on my channel that shows all my current workarounds, but I'm not even sure if it's worth my time to ask these companies to do something that clearly isn't going to help their market much. I hate to get all whiny here but man! It's hard to let go of this hobby. I've been in awe of robots and I've been collecting them since nineteen ninety nine when the Furby came out.
Talon

[Bardian]

Well, it’s truly finalized now. Originally Mayfield hoped to live on. Latest post: https://www.heykuri.com/blog/the-future-of-mayfield-robotics-kuri-home-robot/

A quote:

Since late 2017, we’ve been searching for external partners to support our future. Together with Bosch, we pursued many options for additional financial investment and long-term technology development. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach an agreement with any of the many dozens of companies we talked to. Sadly, this means that Mayfield Robotics will cease all operations by October 31st, 2018.

Our team is beyond disappointed. Together we’ve spent the past four years designing and building not just Kuri, but also an equally incredible company culture and spirit. Given this news, we’re now doing everything we can to support our team. To help to make this transition as smooth as possible, Bosch will help with severance packages and outplacement services, and our team has the option to apply to open positions at Bosch.

[Talon]

RIP, Kuri. Thanks so much for trying, Mayfield Robotics! Everyone that I spoke to through email for the year that I corresponded with them were all very nice, prompt to respond, and all for whatever we needed to do to make Kuri as user-friendly as possible for those who used assistive technology.
Talon

[Bardian]

Received this email tonight:

Well, here we are.  We’re literally shutting the doors here at Mayfield Robotics, and we are feeling it all: sadness that it’s over, happiness that it happened, and most of all, pride in our incredible team.

As you’d expect, we will not be sending emails out anymore, and you will no longer be able to email us at any of our @mayfieldrobotics.com addresses.   For future communications and Kuri-related antics, here are some places to stay in touch:

You can join the Kuri Users Google Group here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/kuri-users

If you would like to receive Kuri-related announcements in the future, this is your best bet.

If you have questions about Kuri, check out the Kuri documentation at docs.freekuri.com

If your Kuri is having issues and you need help troubleshooting that isn’t covered in the documentation, please email support@freekuri.com and our volunteer community moderators will help out wherever and whenever they can (please be gentle with them, they don’t work here anymore either).

Kuri’s software is based on ROS (Robot Operating System), and as we make this transition, the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) is generously letting us use answers.ros.org and discourse.ros.org for our Kuri community to stay connected to one another.

If you have questions about Kuri's software (especially ones that other people might find interesting), please ask on answers.ros.org with the tag 'Kuri'.

If you would like to discuss Kuri-related projects, ideas, and success stories with other people in the Kuri community, please use threads in discourse.ros.org's ROS Projects category here: https://discourse.ros.org/c/ros-projects

It’s truly been an honor to have all of you along with us on this incredible adventure. We moved home robotics forward in exciting and important ways, and we can’t wait to see what happens next - both for our team, and for the entire world of robotics.

We’ll see you around. Until then: so long, and thanks for all the fish. 

 

-The Kuri Team

[Bardian]

They denied my request to join the group because I don't own a Kuri. I read the e-mail as meaning it was pretty open for anyone with an interest in Kuri, but whatever.