Mori might be the cutest AI companion robot yet, and it reacts to you like a pet
The Pokémon-like companion can blink, dance, act shy, and respond to what is happening around it.
With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.
Can’t cook? That’s not an excuse anymore.
A new partnership between virtual culinary assistant app SideChef and Chef’d, a subscription-free meal-kit marketplace, has given home cooks (and non-cooks) everywhere an “integrated tool that conveniently delivers pre-portioned ingredients to their door,” and teaches them how to use them to prepare a delicious meal. SideChef will help you make use of your just-delivered ingredients with its “tech-forward cooking guidance,” which includes hands-free voice commands, built-in timers, step-by-step photos, and how-to videos that pertain to all skill levels.
With more than 200 recipes from celebrity chefs like Dominique Crenn, Fabio Viviani, Adam Richman, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Robert Irvine, and staple cooking resources that comes from Good Housekeeping, Women’s Health, and The James Beard Foundation, anyone should be able to create a stellar meal. Starting at just $6 per serving, meal kits are being distributed across the nation in as little as a single business day, and are available to feed parties of up to four.
Whether you’re craving Adam Richman’s chicken tortilla soup with guacamole wontons, Simon Majumdar’s creamy chicken korma with cilantro rice and naan, or spice rubbed salmon with basmati rice pilaf and broccolini courtesy of Alex Guarnaschelli, you can have it all in your kitchen. Because even if you’re not a professional chef, you should be able to eat (and cook) like one.
SideChef is available for free on both iOS and Android devices, and claims to have already catalyzed the “creation of over 1 million meals [and] cooking sessions in home kitchens around the world.” And now that it’s working with Chef’d, which lets its customers buy meal kits without worrying about subscription or membership fees, it looks like even more meals are on the horizon.
So don’t plan on going out this weekend — you won’t need a chef to cook for you when you’ve got two other “Chefs” on your side.