Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

Lynx gives Amazon’s Alexa appendages, personality, and robot dance moves

Brandon Widder
By

LG and Sony may have nabbed the bulk of the headlines at CES on Thursday, but it’s Alexa that dominated the showroom floor. Amazon’s virtual assistant has seemingly made its way into every facet of home automation and entertainment, from Lenovo’s forthcoming Smart Assistant to Vobot’s smart timepiece, quickly becoming the go-to platform for anyone who is looking to bring voice-activated functionality to their product.

Until this year, however, Alexa has merely been a voice without a face. China-based Ubtech Robotics is looking to change that with the Lynx, a video-enabled robot that is designed to look as adorable on the dance floor as your kitchen counter.

Recommended Videos

“Lynx combines unprecedented intelligence and robotics into one consumer-friendly platform,” said John Rhee, general manager of Ubtech’s North American division. “Integrating with Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service is a perfect match for Lynx’s unparalleled facial, image, and voice recognition, emotion detection, and lifelike robotic movement, seamlessly woven together for a truly humanlike experience.”

Related

The device’s Alexa integration translates into a wide range of functionality, all of which is accessible via a string of simple voice commands. The in-home companion currently works with Amazon Music, Spotify, and a host of other streaming services, with more on the way. It can also help you schedule events and set up reminders, as well as read and dictate emails without the use of your computer. And if you’re looking to add some levity to your morning routine, you can program Lynx to sing, dance, or instruct you on your favorite yoga pose. Downward-facing dog, anyone?

The Alexa integration is only one aspect of Lynx’s toolset, however. As previously mentioned, the robot is imbued with facial and image recognition, which allows it to greet you and react based on what is directly in front of it. A built-in video camera also allows you to capture photos and live-stream video, meaning you can easily keep a watchful eye on your pets — or unsuspecting family members — when you’re away.

Other details remain scarce, though you can expect the robot to carry out other basic tasks that have become synonymous with Alexa. Lynx can provide you with weather reports, for instance, or inform you of upcoming showings of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It can even handle your at-home shopping requests, provided you stick with one of Amazon’s bedrock services. Now, if only it could add content to our Netflix queue.

Lynx will launch sometime in the second quarter of 2017 at an undisclosed price point.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Brandon Widder
Brandon Widder
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brandon Widder is a multimedia journalist and a staff writer for Digital Trends where he covers technology news, how-to…
Why Amazon acquiring iRobot will make Roombas even better
The iRobot app overlaid on a Roomba.

You've probably seen the news by now that Amazon has signed an agreement to buy iRobot for $1.7 billion. There have been a lot of mixed reactions to the news, but it's important to understand exactly what the agreement means.

First of all, the deal isn't complete. As of now, iRobot is still an independent company -- only the groundwork has been laid. While it's highly unlikely that it will fall through, nothing is set in stone yet. According to Amazon's own press release, "Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by iRobot's shareholders."

Read more
Finishing touch: How scientists are giving robots humanlike tactile senses
A woman's hand is held by a robot's hand.

There’s a nightmarish scene in Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 movie Pan's Labyrinth in which we are confronted by a sinister humanoid creature called the Pale Man. With no eyes in his monstrous, hairless head, the Pale Man, who resembles an eyeless Voldemort, sees with the aid of eyeballs embedded in the palms of his hands. Using these ocular-augmented appendages, which he holds up in front of his eyeless face like glasses, the Pale Man is able to visualize and move through his surroundings.

This to a degree describes work being carried out by researchers at the U.K’.s Bristol Robotics Laboratory -- albeit without the whole terrifying body horror aspect. Only in their case, the Pale Man substitute doesn’t simply have one eyeball in the palm of each hand; he’s got one on each finger.

Read more
5 home robots you can buy now that are similar to the Amazon Astro
Astro Robot lifestyle image.

The recent emergence of the Amazon Astro has renewed discussion about the utility of household robots. For some people, the Astro may have been the first home robot they had heard of, but it's not even close to the only option. There are numerous "home" robots on the market, but they don't all have the same functionality as Astro. On the other hand, a lot of these robots are significantly less expensive than Astro.

Whether it's to keep an eye out on your pets while you're away, or a robot that will help with teaching kids, you don't have to wait to for the Amazon Astro to be released to have a useful home robot.
Miko 2

Read more