What is Rabbit R1?
The device, launched by a young startup called Rabbit, offers users a new and unique experience of interacting with their gadgets - through a virtual assistant that, unlike Alice and Siri, can be touched.
Rabbit's gadget is an AI assistant that can integrate with smartphone applications and services, thereby automating many routine user actions. The device is quite compact and autonomous - it resembles a small walkie-talkie with a screen and camera.
According to the presentation, the new gadget is designed to conveniently integrate all applications and automate their work using voice control. Rabbit plans to solve the problem of many voice assistants in this way. It is aimed at “smart” integration - working with all services without numerous clicks, searching for the necessary information and manually processing data. In other words, with the new device, users will no longer need to go into dozens of applications and services - it will do everything itself.
The editors of The Verge compared the startup's idea to Google Assistant, which provides universal access to work with internal applications, smart home, phone settings and other services. However, in comparison, Rabbit does not “negotiate” with applications about integration, but trains its assistant to do it independently.
Why do you need such a gadget?
The world saw the new product in early January, at CES 2024, an annual international technology and electronics exhibition. It was there that the company first demonstrated its orange assistant, reminiscent of small game consoles from the 1990s and early 2000s.
Despite the fact that the company did not even have its own exhibition space, Rabbit representatives managed to immediately attract the attention of visitors. Moreover, a day later the first batch of 10 thousand copies was completely sold out.
The key feature, which already captivated the public at the start, is the autonomous control of applications on a smartphone. Roughly speaking, an assistant can order food delivery, add a meeting to the calendar, set an alarm, turn on music on a speaker, or turn down the volume on headphones.
At the same time, the assistant will not just be heard from the speaker of the smartphone - it, as a separate device, unlike voice assistants, is always “in action”, regardless of the smartphone’s battery charge, updates, APIs and various restrictions. The developers deliberately abandoned the decision to create an online assistant. In this case, third-party applications would have to add integration functionality with R1, which is not always easy or quick to achieve. It is easier to develop a system that is not tied to the presence of an API.
“When developing, we started from the fact that smartphones have hundreds of familiar applications with a complex interface that do not interact with each other at all. As a result of such multifunctional work, users often get tired and disappointed with their devices,” explained the idea of the creation of the company’s CEO Jesse Liu.
And he was definitely not wrong about this. At a time when the modern user spends a lot of time on the phone, working with text, presentations, photos and even tables, automation certainly won’t hurt. In this case, Rabbit R1 will definitely become an indispensable AI assistant, which can restore order at least in regular routine actions.
It is also important to note that the company does not position the product as a “replacement” or competitor to smartphones. Using the new gadget, you won’t be able to call, write a message, check your social network account, or send an email, and, accordingly, receive any feedback. On the contrary, the gadget acts as a kind of intermediary between the user and his smartphone, simplifying the work with applications and saving time.
What can the new assistant do?
— Connect and train all smartphone applications through the Rabbit Hole cloud platform
The company claims that the R1 can handle any task in smartphone applications. By the way, it integrates with them through the secure cloud platform Rabbit Hole. In order to link the smart assistant to all necessary applications, the user will have to log in and provide access to them.
After which the gadget will independently begin to learn the interface of all applications connected to it. If desired, the user can independently show the new device how to work with a particular task. For example, teach how to launch the editor and remove watermarks or format a table. R1 will be able to process the request within a few seconds, and after that it will perform similar actions independently.
Moreover, the system involves training in complex actions and tasks of rare applications. A specific LAM mode is responsible for this, allowing you to start the learning process in a visual editor. The company emphasizes that users do not need any special programming skills: the device is not difficult to connect, and it learns completely independently.
— Perform all familiar tasks through a single interface
The company’s own operating system called Rabbit OS, which supports AI technologies, is responsible for all the “smart” capabilities of the gadget. Thanks to the operating system, users can switch music, manage navigation services, send messages to the messenger via a smartphone, as well as perform any other operations, all while working in a single interface.
R1 does not require any additional calibration or verification - you just need to ask the gadget to perform a particular task.
The interface on the gadget's display is a set of categories: navigation, instant messengers, music, health and much more. Users can also control the operation of the device itself through the screen.
— Execution of generative tasks through the LAM neural network
Most of these assistants that we see in the AI technology market are based on large language models, like GPT, which runs the well-known chatbot. However, in the case of R1, a slightly different model is used - the large language action model LAM (Large Action Model). It is a kind of universal control point for all AI commands in applications.
For example, the gadget is capable of not only performing a number of mediocre tasks in applications, but also coping with such actions as ordering and booking a trip, managing household chores and answering complex questions. While this isn't all that different from the usual tasks we do on our smartphones, the R1's goal, according to the company, is to provide a focused, less intrusive digital experience.
