Vyo Is a Fascinating and Unique Take on Social Domestic Robots From: IEEE Spectrum - 06/09/2016 By: Evan Ackerman Vyo is a personal assistant serving as a centralized interface for smart home devices. Nothing new there, but what sets Vyo apart is how you interact with it: it combines non-anthropomorphic design with anthropomorphic expressiveness and a tactile object-based control system into a social robot that's totally, adorably different. Five design goals for Vyo based on prior research, experience, and user studies: 1. Engaging 2. Unobtrusive 3. Device-like 4. Respectful 5. Reassuring Read the entire article and view videos (1:09 7:02) and at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/home-robots/vyo-robotic-smart-home-assistant Links: Vyo http://research.milab.idc.ac.il/vyo Guy Hoffman http://guyhoffman.com Related: How Aldebaran Robotics Built Its Friendly Humanoid Robot, Pepper http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/home-robots/how-aldebaran-robotics-built-its-friendly-humanoid-robot-pepper Jibo Is as Good as Social Robots Get. But Is That Good Enough? http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/home-robots/jibo-is-as-good-as-social-robots-get-but-is-that-good-enough