Tech Review: Fribo The Creepy Robot Listens to Everything You Say!

• Fribo never sleeps. It listens to what you say. It knows what you are doing. Supposedly, it helps you stay connected with your friends... But at what cost?

Fribo was unleashed on the masses at the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction a few months ago.

This was where roboticists from Korea showed off their latest and greatest inventions. Fribo was designed to give young adults who live alone a way to maintain daily connections with one another.

Is it just me or has the world completely lost it? Do we now need robots to keep us acting human and socializing with our peers? This just makes me sad to be honest. Anybody else a bit shocked yet?

It turns out that just in the United States, there are over 5 million young adults between the ages of 18-35 living alone. Furthermore apparently, that number is growing.

It is understandable that living alone has the potential to be very socially isolating. This problem is even worse in many other countries and especially in Asia.

There are plenty of robots under development (and even available) for elderly people with social isolation issues, but younger people are expected to, uh, just go outside or something.

Wow, turns out I'm in the wrong business! Who needs to be a writer when you can make your living finding ways to teach humans basic skills like socializing... Guess many of them never learned that at school or have since forgotten the basic human skill of interaction with one's peers.

So lets dig in a bit deeper... How does this new robot help young adults to be more 'social?'

Apparently it does this by listening for what goes on in your life and the life of your friends, in as non-creepy a way as possible.

Well, wait... Isn't that a bit creepy?

Fribo operates by listening for what’s called “living noise,” which is all of the stuff in your home that makes noise besides you. The robot’s voice recognition is minimal (and it doesn’t record voices), so it’s much more private than something like Alexa. It’s also smarter in many ways, with the ability to understand what’s going on in its environment just by listening.

Fribo can recognize noises like a vacuum cleaner motor running, a microwave turning on, a running washing machine, a refrigerator door opening or closing, noises from entrance doors or specific room doors, and more. Over time, with your help, it’s able to learn what new noises mean. The robot also has a ultrasonic sensor that it uses to detect whether you’re in the room or not, along with temperature, humidity, and ambient light sensors.

This is a new age of super spy surveillence technology posed as consumer gadgets designed to help us live better lives!

I don't know about you but I think I'm going to pass... I'm not telling you what I ate for breakfast!

What do you guys think?

Source:

Fribo: A Robot for People Who Live Alone - IEEE Spectrum

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IEEE Spectrum