Better late than never. Digital Dream Labs (DDL), the edutainment startup that acquired Anki’s IP in December 2019, is gearing up to relaunch the popular Cozmo and Vector consumer robots by signing a global retail distribution deal with Protempo. The goal is to have the robots physically on retail store shelves in time for the…

We reported last June Anki already had a prototype of its next consumer robot prior to shutting down. The Robot Report has learned there were multiple products in the works, and none of them are what you’d expect. First, meet Bingo, a security robot with a German Shepherd-inspired design. Anki was working on two versions…

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on December 27, 2019 at 11 AM EST. The Robot Report spoke to Digital Dream Labs Founder H. Jacob Hanchar and added new information about relaunching Anki products and a potential subscription model and open-source Vector 2.0.  Anki’s robots might be making a comeback, after all. Digital Dream Labs,…

StretchTech won its patent infringement lawsuit against Anki, the once-popular consumer robotics company that closed in April 2019. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled (PDF) Anki directly and indirectly infringed on the following three audio-related StretchTech patents: U.S. Patent No. 9,913,054 — System and method for mapping and…

The patent portfolio for Anki, the once-popular consumer robotics company that closed in April 2019, is now up for sale. The sale includes patents and trademarks for the Overdrive, Cozmo, and Vector product lines. Hilco Streambank, which is handling the sale, will be accepting offer through November 21, 2019. The physical assets inside Anki’s 40,000-square-foot office…

Consumer robotics company Anki shut down in April, taking many by surprise. But a recent teardown video shed light on some of the complex, costly, and manual manufacturing processes involved with building the Anki Vector robot. Swetha Sriram, a manufacturing engineer at San Francisco-based on-demand manufacturing company Fictiv, and Leanne Cushing, CEO of Domovi and…

Hanns Tappeiner, who founded Anki with Mark Palatucci and Boris Sofman in 2010, has been named Director of Product Development at Apple’s Special Projects Group. Tappeiner within the last few days updated his LinkedIn profile, which indicates he started working at Apple’s Special Projects Group in August 2019. Apple scooped up several other former Anki employees…