It's an interesting story really. I saw this item on Amazon last Sunday evening, and what caught my eye was the price. Regularity $249.99, the current price was $128.98. So, I did a bit of research.
It turns out that the Robotics/AI company Anki - founded in 2010 - went 'bankrupt' in April 2019, less than one year after the September 2018 launch date of Vector, their most advanced, known product. But, according to the parting message on their website, they plan to keep the cloud server running in order to support Vector for the foreseeable future. Then, I read - whether it's true or not, who knows - that Apple hired their engineering team to work on a 'Special Project'. That would explain the collapse of the company, and 'poaching' like this is common in the high-tech world - especially when it comes to Apple, Tesla, and Space X, and I have no problem with that. But, to keep their server running. And it is running, as the functionality of Vector is minimal without it.
So, I bought this because something big is about to happen when it comes to consumer level AI, and this little Vector Robot is what seems to have lit the fuse. Stay closely tuned, and if you want one, you better act fast: Amazon.com: Vector Robot by Anki, A Home Robot Who Hangs Out & Helps Out, With Amazon Alexa Built-In: Gateway
After all, they are not being made anymore, and as far as I can tell, this little device is in a class of its own...