Humanoid robots may be the future, but the present belongs to the smallest, the ones with small legs and the ones designed to provide some kind of assistance to the users. Optimistic Robot, as the creative engineers of the company Letianpai have named it, is attracting the attention of gadget lovers.

Former Xiaomi founder Lin Bin founded a new startup called Letianpai, whose first major product is a robot that can respond to user requests and expressively react to human interactions, thanks to its Artificial Intelligence (AA)-based software. The desktop robot is 15 cm tall and its head consists of a circular screen with a diameter of 6 cm. It has only two mobile legs that give it mobility on flat surfaces.

Known as an "optimistic robot," the gadget can act as a companion and assistant. It is connected to the Internet through a smartphone app and has microphones and haptic sensors to understand the user's instructions. According to the company, the tiny robot is designed to interact with people and improve their mood through its "happy" expressions.

"It is the first robot that is a true table companion of artificial intelligence, providing entertainment, life, study, work company, is a children's company and will have other functions," the company said in a statement. In its first promotional videos, the Letianpai robot is seen interacting directly with the user; it tries to release you from tension and gives you reminders to improve your health.

Letianpai's optimistic bot doesn't have advanced features to maintain an organic conversation, but it could have since the product acceptance is good.

The company created its own operating system based on a modified version of Android called GeeUI. This will distribute the code to external developers so that users and other companies can expand the capabilities of the Asian robot. In the promotional material, Letianpai claims that its product has AI, but nowhere does it specify which model of artificial intelligence it integrates, or what technology it is based on.

At the moment, the gadget has three modes of interaction. Electronic pet mode, which will show the robot walking around the table, making the user laugh and relax in the process; a functional mode, where it will become a virtual assistant, and finally, it offers a hybrid mode, where it exchanges functions and expressiveness. The Letianpai robot will go on sale in the Chinese market on July 26 and will cost 1,799 yuan or $271 at the current exchange rate.

Android

The operating system is called Android, but the truth is that it doesn't have much Android, especially since Google shut down Android Things. To compensate for this injustice, a new startup founded by a former Xiaomi executive is about to launch an "optimistic robot" with Android.

Lin Min, who for years was responsible for the ecosystem of Xiaomi products for the home, such as washing machines, refrigerators or vacuum cleaners, has another new idea for walking around the house or at least around the table. It's a tiny Android robot with a screen it can use to communicate with us, respond to touch and even take baby steps.

A small robot with Android

Today we have Android on all kinds of products, although not really on too many Androids. The new creation of startup Letianpai (translated as "optimists") is an optimist robot whose name is literally Desktop Optimist Robot.

Amazing looking, the little robot has Android inside and will allow us to install apps in the future, giving users full control as well as anyone who wants to change their firmware by unlocking it. As a standard, it is something like "a smart watch with legs", but with the novelty that it can move a little, it has a camera that detects gestures and reacts when you "caress".

The company has already shown some of the possible functions of this robot, from showing the time to telling us the number of followers we have on social networks or staying up to date on notifications and calls that arrive on our mobile, reminding us of anniversaries and events and more, functions that we have in most smart watches these days.

The robot is about 15cm tall and can show emotions by combining on-screen expressions, colored LEDs and leg movements, charges via USB-C and has a (simple) Assistant function to answer questions in Chinese, such as what the temperature is, and the like.

Inside, there's a version of Android called GeeUI, which its creators want to be open so that ROM developers can modify it however they want.
The optimistic robot will go on sale in China as an exclusive on the e-commerce site Tmall at a price of 1,799 yuan, which is 229 euros at the exchange rate. There is currently no news of its international sales.

The company describes this device on its website as “the first engo Android desktop robot" that integrates artificial intelligence capabilities with "limitless possibilities" for "app scenarios". Therefore, the main news is the ways of interaction: a built-in camera that recognizes and reacts to gestures, can respond to signs of love and even answer questions a touch sensor with haptic feedback.