Exploring Rabbit’s R1: The Small AI Gadget That Becomes Indispensable Over Time
If there’s one overarching takeaway from last night’s Rabbit R1 launch event, it’s this: Hardware can be fun again. After a decade of unquestioned smartphone dominance, there is, once again, excitement to be found in consumer electronics. The wisdom and longevity of any individual product or form factor — while important — can be set aside for a moment. Just sit back and enjoy the show.
Despite flying out of an airport on a monthly basis, last night was my first night at the TWA Hotel nestled among the labyrinthian turnoffs of JFK’s Terminal 5. One rarely stays at hotels where they live, after all. The space is a nod to another era, when people dressed up to board flights and smiling chefs carved up
Image Credits: Brian Heater
A DeLorean tagged with Rabbit insignia, rented for the event, held pride of place at the venue, effectively symbolizing the timeless nature of the event. Equally intriguing, though subtler, was the interspersion of a Ritchie Valens’ tune amidst the Motown tracks that serenaded us during the descent to the underground venue via the elevator.
Upon my arrival, hundreds of participants were already queued up. There was a sizeable group of tech journalism veterans, and a substantial number of early bird enthusiasts. Their identities were discreetly announced by their distinct lanyards labeled “Press” and “VIP”. One gentleman, who was standing ahead of me in the line, revealed that he had flown from Los Angeles specifically for this event.
Much like Humane, Rabbit’s team debuts a penchant for drama. Though their strategies align at certain points, Humane tends to divert sizeable funds on viral video campaigns, like the eclipse teaser that seemingly aspired to emulate Apple’s iconic “1984” commercial. It did seem, however, that Rabbit had somewhat underestimated the impact their CES 2024 launch would have.
The company stated on Twitter that, during the development of r1, the internal goal was to be content with 500 unit sales on launch day. However, in reality, they exceeded this target by 20x within the first 24 hours!
Perfect timing could not have been achieved better. The hype around Generative AI was at an all-time high. Humane had given a peek into its impending Ai Pin. Intel was marking 2024 as the advent of the AI PC, and shortly, Samsung was anticipated to follow suit in the smartphone arena. Concurrently, Apple was assuring its own significant updates in this realm in the subsequent months.
To stage a grand demo, a tech enterprise also requires to carry the part. The product design focus signifies another significant similarity between Rabbit and Humane. Though their form factors differ considerably, both Ai Pin and R1 stand as testimonials to the significance of industrial design. Rabbit turned to the Nothing blueprint, engaging the reputable Teenage Engineering to craft an extraordinarily unique product. The R1, in fact, assumes the stance of an art object as much as any gadget. It’s a compact, orange entity — potentially an item you’d fancy attaching to your bicycle’s handlebars amidst rough weather.
While the Ai Pin’s value derives from its lack of a display, Rabbit prefers a display — albeit to a moderate extent. The screen merely spans 2.88 inches, occasionally feeling almost irrelevant to the product. The touch feature also shares the same sentiment. Instead, much like the Ai Pin, your primary interactions are voice-based, filled in by an amalgamate analog scroll and button.
Beyond entering a Wi-Fi password, there aren’t a ton of reasons to touch the screen. That’s for the best. The most monumental and ongoing task facing the nascent AI device space is justifying its existence outside of the smartphone. After all, anyone with a half-decent mobile device (and plenty of non-decent ones) has access to generative AI models. These are largely accessed via browsers or stand-alone apps at the moment, but models like ChatGPT and Google Gemini will be increasingly baked into mobile operating systems in the months and years to come.
When I posed the question to Humane, co-founder and CEO Bethany Bongiorno offered the following anecdote: “[Humane’s co-founders] had gone to this dinner, and there was a family sitting next to us. There were three kids and a mom and dad, and they were on their phones the entire time. It really started a conversation about the incredible tool we built, but also some of the side effects.”
The Ai Pin’s absence of a screen is, in essence, a feature. Again, there’s plenty of cause to question the wisdom and efficacy of that design decision, but regardless, it’s crucial to the product. It’s worth noting that at $199, the barrier of price justification is significantly lower than the Ai Pin’s asking price.
Brian Heater
The fact is, during this initial phase, being unique is a substantial draw. Either you comprehend the appeal of a dedicated LLM device or you don’t. The reasonable pricing of Rabbit further expands this domain. Worth noting is that the R1 does not necessitate a recurring fee, unlike Humane which demands $24 per month for its services. Combine this with the partly interactive screen and exceptional design and it’s easy to see why it has overshadowed Ai Pin somewhat.
Neither of these devices use apps in the way contemporary smartphones do. You communicate only with the inbuilt operating system. Still, it can be linked to other accounts like Spotify, Uber, Midjourney, and DoorDash. This system is capable of recording voices and performing bidirectional translations. Additionally, the onboard camera can provide environmental context.
The AI vision feature of Rabbit R1 is quite variable. The details it recognizes and the context it provides fluctuate significantly between captures. Please forgive the construction noise. pic.twitter.com/lf7WcOt8Rz
— Brian Heater (@bheater) April 24, 2024
One of the initial tests I conducted was providing a description of my bookshelf. I directed the camera towards a series of four hardbound books. These were “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville, “The Barbary Coast” by Herbert Asbury, “Understanding Media” by Marshall McLuhan, and finally, “Dodsworth” by Sinclair Lewis. The system had a noticeable struggle with identifying the last book which is understandable given that it was the least discernible in the set.
With “Moby Dick”, the system did considerably well as it identified it as a “classic” and at times even provided a concise summary. The two middle books on the shelf were recognized about half to three-quarters of the time. The system also tried to provide some context regarding the selection of these books and even ventured to compliment the curation.
However, there were instances where the system provided too much detail. For instance, when I inquired about the next Oakland A’s game (I added the city to the inquiry as the initial query for “A’s” resulted in “Ace”), it furnished the timing of tonight’s match, followed by a rundown of the up-coming 10 or so games. But, being a lifelong A’s fan, I quite enjoy these detailed overviews.
Image Credits: Brian Heater
It’s important to mention that devices like these are aimed at enhancing and personalizing performance the more they’re utilized. My experience is based on a brief usage period since just acquiring the gadget the previous night. I plan to pass it along to Devin for more comprehensive examination.
After only a short period of using the R1, it’s clear that it’s easier to use compared to the Humane Pin, thanks to the touchscreen feature and the price. While it doesn’t address the societal obsession with screens, the way Humane strives to, it don’t seem to aim for such lofty goals. Instead, it is an elegantly crafted device that provides intriguing perspective into the probable direction of future developments.
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