Trying to make AI Bros useful.
So I have an R1 from Rabbit.
If you don't know what an R1 is: It's a very nicely designed palm sized block of glossy orange plastic with a small indoor screen, camera, a scroll wheel and a button. It costs $200 and is a really basic Android phone where all the android phone parts are hidden. It uses Perplexity/ChatGTP to answer questions. There's also a LAM - Large Action Model, which doesn't exist, but is supposed to.
The idea is that the R1 will answer questions, find information and be able to take action on your behalf. Many people have done clickbait Youtube videos about how this is a scam.
It's only partially a scam.
The part where you activate the camera, which is unable to see anything until activated, by physically not allowing it to point out the front or back until it's rolled around, and ask it for information about what it sees, is fine.
That works.
The rest...? Bullet point time.
The Bad
The LAM is just a bunch of scripts for using four different websites, all of which are the ones you'd assume a Tech-Bro thinks are important. Uber, Door dash, Yelp. No other websites are supported, and every time one of these services changes their layout the "LAM" goes down for "maintenance".
The GPS is just garbage.
You have to tether it to a Hotspot or SIM that has voice and data. Data alone won't work. The R1 cannot make phone calls.
No app integration: You can't send a message, check your mail etc.
Screen is hilariously shit outside or in bright light
UI prioritises icon of a cute rabbit vs the results.
So WTF?
✨Use Case Scenario!!✨
OK: Imagine you're partially sighted. You pull this thing out of your pocket: It has one easy to find physical button that does nearly everything.
You turn it on with a click.
You double click to go into vision mode.
You hold the button down and say "What am I looking at?"
The R1 then uses a pretty good speech model to describe the scene!
You hold the button down and ask further questions about the image:
"How much is this?" "What's the weight?" "Is there a special offer?"
Or a bill:
"Who is this from?" "Wow much is it for?" "When do I have to pay by?"
Common Arguments
"This could be an app!"
Yes it could be an app and if you have absolutely fine vision and motor control and want to pull a phone out, unlock it, find the icon, then navigate around a UI, go for it. Perplexity is right there, you can use it now. It's fantastic at checking websites (Even ones it's explicitly banned from using) and summarising them.
But again: If you're having to run things by touch, a single button is way easier.
"It wasn't designed as an assistive product so..."
No. And a genuine assistive product is most likely an android phone of the cheapest off the shelf hardware, an OCR app, and a £1,200 price tag. Comes with the cutting edge synthesised voice tech of 1995. The rabbit is $200/£160, and is voice controlled and still somehow has fewer buttons than a device that's supposedly designed for people who can't see buttons.
"Ah but does it really..."
The hype is massive. But I physically have one. One moment. I am now holding it.
Did I run down to the supermarket and test it? Yes. Did it work? Yes. Was it minorly a pain in the ass? Yes.
"You ain't visumably Impaired!!"
Ah, no. Yes. Depends on how nitpicky you want to be.
However, I do have someone here whose vision is basically Noped out, who will be helping me test and either she hates it or I'll have to spend a few hours planning a heist to pry it out of her hands, so I can charge the battery.
