Oh, this is pretty cool. You may have
already noticed this because you're smart. You notice things, but robots, I
don't they're they're kind of all over the place right now. They're they're coming into our workplaces, kicking us
out of our chairs and sitting down. And we're like, okay. But whether your
specific job is in danger of replacement or not, the fact of the matter is that
we are about to live in a world with a lot more robots than there were before.
This thing is an open-source, fully
open- source both in hardware and software desktop robot that you can
program, you can build, you can modify, and you can generally fiddle around
with. Now, this will not only be an interesting idea to, you know, actual
engineers and and robotics enthusiasts, but also to education institutions,
colleges, high schools. I don't know if the robots are going to middle schools
yet, but they will. Now, just so you know, it doesn't arrive like this. Our
Labs team actually already unboxed it and assembled it because if I was going
to assemble it, we would have been here for a while. So, thank you Labs for
doing that. The assembly process for the Reichi Mini is apparently pretty
straightforward. It's not quite Lego level, but it's also not like putting
together an engine uh level. There are instructions with it that TAS was able
to use and put it together in about an hour or so. And there's also CAD files
online for all the hardware components as I mentioned. So, if you want to 3D
print something or mod it, you can do that, too. It's pretty cool. So, the
point is it comes disassembled. It doesn't come like this. However, it does
come with a foam disc. Always nice to have a power adapter with a barrel plug
that will plug into the back. That's about 4 ft, 4 1/2 ft maybe. and a USBC
toa cable because the model that we have
is actually the reachi mini light which
requires a connection to a computer to
power it. The reachi mini son's light
has a Raspberry Pi inside that it can use for uh onboard computing and also
comes with a battery so you can take it on the go with you. I'm glad that we
have the Reichi Mini Light, which is the non battery powered version, because I
would be a little worried uh if I was taking this on the go with me. I I'd be
a little worried about dropping it. I love the little noises it makes when
you move it around. It's like just like it sounds like a robot.
So, this is sort of its like sleep position. It kind of nestles its head
inside this little egg body. But when you turn it on, the head will kind of
rise up and oh, it's Oh, it's a little sleepy right now. So, it doesn't it
doesn't we have to plug it in to get it to work. I just want to show you guys what the head looks like. So, we got a
four mic array on top here. Uh, we got two little antennas that stick up. Are
these functional antennas or are they just kind of like for expression? It's
just for expression. They've got these big lenses here, but we were a little
surprised to learn that these are not the cameras. I guess it does have a
camera for an eye, but it's got a single camera in the middle in that little
bridge between the eyes. It's a 12 megapixel Sony sensor with a 120 degree
field of view, so it should be able to see all of the things that you're saying
about it when you think it's not listening. The shell itself is composed
of uh ABS plastic and polycarbonate and
then aluminum uh for the metal parts. Overall, it feels sturdy enough. Got
this swiveing base. On the back, you've got these ports, a USBC port uh that
will allow you to connect to a computer. Got a barrel charger here for power. Uh
the USBC port is just going to be for data, and this is just going to supply
power because there are motors and servos and stuff in there that needs
extra power. Uh, so they're going to separate those. And then there's a
button. It's on, off. It's the onoff switch. And then just here is the LED
indicator that'll tell you whether it's on or off. So that's the exterior anyway
of the Reichi Mini. It's 28 cm tall, just so you know. It's 1.5 kg in in
weight. And uh, now comes the fun part where we're going to plug it in and do
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>> Do it. So to get this thing running, we got to plug it in. You might feel
something. Jeez. Okay, I'm turning it on
on the pressing the power button. The green light. We got the green light. Can
you see that? Say goodbye to humanity.
We're still here. Everything's going to be fine. Reach is our friend. Reachi
mini. Reachi mini light. Don't get it wrong cuz I didn't even mention this
actually, but there uh there's big reaches. There's other Reachies. The
Reachi 2 has arms, which is why it's called Reachi, but then they had this
one that they took the arms away, but they still called it they should have called it something else.
>> The thingy. >> The the Thinky. Okay, so we got Reichi
Mini Light connected to the MacBook. We've got it plugged in for power and we
have downloaded the control software from the hugging face website. Now,
there is a Windows app, but it's in beta and it was being weird. So, we're going
with the macOS version, which is just a git version. So, you just open a
terminal and put in a command and it's going to open up a web app. Why am I
talking about it? Let's do it. Enter. I'm a little scared, but also excited.
Okay, it's awake. Nobody move. Okay, so
we got the pretty userfriendly uh web app running here. Up top here, we got a
kind of default section that's always going to be there with the ability to
select either dances or emotions. I'm going to make it express the emotion of
curiosity.
Okay. It's looking around. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, what's what's going on out there? And I didn't even mention this
yet, but there is a speaker in there. I actually wasn't even prepared for it to
make little cute noises. Uh-oh. I'm getting attached. Go away. It's It's got
an emotion called go away.
Just back off. That was funny. I won't go away though.
Haha. You can't make me. You don't have arms. Oh, there's a dance. Do chicken.
Peck. Peck like a chicken. Okay.
Okay. That's kind of It's kind of weird. Dizzy spin.
I'll accept it. Okay. Anyway, so that's like kind of the default stuff. It's
like I I guess that's sort of used to give you an idea of the kind of thing
that that we're dealing with here. Uh there's a volume control so you can uh
have it yell at you and there's also a microphone control so you can mute it
and know to a reasonable level of certainty that it's not listening to you
if you don't want it to. And then below that section is the applications. So TA
has loaded up a few applications that we can play around with just to kind of see
you know some examples of what people have been able to do. and hugging face
kind of their whole thing is making models and this kind of technology
accessible to people and easy to understand and use. So they have
documentation that will help you out if you want to make some apps yourself or
whatever. But uh some people have already done that. So let's check it out. What is spaceship game shoot to
what is this just a video game? I wrote an app for the robot. It's a video game
you play on your laptop. Oh, I play it with the robot.
Oh my gosh. Okay. Tilt left, right is banking. Pull
antennas. Oh,
this is so funny. Okay, this is this is crazy that this is like the first thing
we're doing with it. But this is I guess this goes to show what you can do with
hardware like this. I'm going to fire the target. There's music.
Okay, something broke. I just got introduced to this thing. I just thought
it was a little early for me to be grabbing its head like that. And maybe
it felt like that, too. It's like, God, we got to get to know each other first a
little bit. I'm going to grab your head again.
Prepare yourself.
What is that?
They're not shooting at me.
Okay. Well, so you're only allowed to play for that long, but wow, what fun it
is. Oh, you don't like it? Want to play for longer? Code your own app for the
Reachi Mini Light. Marionette.
>> The Marionette Awakens.
>> Seems like it did the opposite. It just went to sleep, but okay. The marionette
awakens. All right, we'll skip the marionette for now. Maybe I'll Okay,
hold on. I'll try turning it off.
It gave a little snore. I I turned it off and it said going to sleep and it
was like the best part about this robot is when
it goes to sleep. I don't want that was a joke. I think it's cool.
>> Hi. Are you going to listen this time? >> The marionette.
>> Okay. >> Awakens. Essentially,
Hugging Labs' whole thing is that they are this platform that hosts AI models
and people can tweak them and upload them and download them. And so, Reachi
Mini serves as an interface to talk to any one of those models or any other
model hosted anywhere else. If you have an app that has the ability to connect
to an API like open eyes, I want to try
the default one that they had with the mini conversation app just to kind of
see what it's like to talk to Reachi
Mini. And so I just clicked that. It says it's installed and now it's up here
in the list of applications. Turn it on. Open the interface.
>> Hey, I'm all set. What can I do for you today? >> Uh, what can you do for me? You could
you just be yourself. I just like your vibe. >> Appreciate that. I'll groove along. And
if you need a head wiggle or a handy tip, I'm here. Smooth and easy, just
like a welloiled neck joint. >> Absolutely. Smooth all the way, top to
bottom, and no worries either way. >> Absolutely. Smoother than a jazz riff on
a quiet night. >> Well, hopefully not too quiet because we're going to we're we're going to have
a good time partying. Uh so everything's good to go.
>> We're all set. Just say the word and we'll bring the fun.
I think I don't I don't know what it is. There's something about the head moving
around that makes that just more fun to do than like talking to Chat GBT or
something. Hey, Reachi. Uh, what am I holding right now?
>> Yep. It's a screwdriver with a twistable handle ready to turn some heads or
screws. >> Hey, Reachi, look to your left. >> I'm looking to the left now.
>> What do you see when you turn to the left? When I look to the left, I can see
a kitchen area with shelves, plates, and some greenery. There's a person standing
behind the counter looking thoughtful or focused. >> You were doing this. He was doing this,
and they said he was looking thoughtful. If I tell you to like nod your head, can
you do that? >> There you go. A nice little nod. Let me
know if you'd like me to add some more flare. >> I'm a little worried about you because when you do that, you knock your head.
Can you nod your head like very small? Like do smaller motions when you nod
your head. This is pretty cool. I mean, I gotta say
this is not just So, this is how Can I pause it? So, you know, at the end of
the day, it's still like an AI. It's still just like chaty BT like connected
to a robot body. It's not going to be able to be useful uh in terms of like
except for more entertainment value. But, it's nice to see that there like
that kind of thing is possible with this kind of platform. really I really
enjoyed seeing that it kind of had an understanding of its own body. Not only
in so that it could like react to what I'm saying and and respond with words,
but also understand the the hardware that it's working with in order to
control it slightly differently. That's really cool to see. What's DJ Reactor?
I have to find out. Okay, here we are. Reachi Mini dances to your music. I
didn't think we were going to play Crab Rave in this one, but I guess we will.
Okay, start vibing. Let's do it.
Not even playing music yet, dude. Just chill. Chill. Chill.
Turn down the intensity.
Okay, it's react. No, it's just like,
okay, calm down. Calm down. Calm down. It's reacting to sound. I guess it's
just like when it had when it was like
ambient noise, it just was like there's so much noise.
Okay, but now Oh,
hey
crab rave.
Okay,
listen. I don't know who coded this app, but you know what's most important is
you tried something new. And that's good. Metronome.
Let's try this one. I'm going to turn on and off cuz I want this to I want to
try. It's okay. You did good.
Okay. It's waking up.
Hi
Okay, I'm changing the volume control and I think it's doing that little to
let you know how loud it is, but the volume is not changing. Faster,
slower.
We're having fun. We're buddies. Okay. I mean, you could do that. I I keep
wanting to evaluate these apps as like how useful they are or like how good the
app is, but really like this platform is
not meant to be a showcase for like, oh look, we built something and it's going
to be useful and now everyone's going to buy it and have it in their homes. It's it's about the fact that this platform
exists so people can write an app, upload it, and this thing is doing these
janky little things because people made it do that with their own code. And
that's pretty cool. regardless of whether it actually works and and is,
you know, actually wants to be my friend, even if it rejects all of my
advances, that will still be true. I don't Is this Simon says thing? Like the
Bopit thing?
Okay, we could do this all day, but that's kind of fun. I Okay, I really
like that app as an example of how to
have an interface with something that doesn't require like clicking around on
a web app or even just talking. It just like it used non audio cues. Well, it
had little audio cues, but it used nonverbal cues to kind of be like ah
figuring out. It was like a little puzzle. That was cool. I thought I wouldn't like that one, but I did. One
more simple dances. Okay, he's vibing
without I'm not going to make it do any more dances because it I'm afraid it's
going to bonk its head again and that it just scares me a little bit. At the
bottom of the web interface here, there's this install from hugging face
section and by default it shows a number of apps that I'm guessing kind of the
developers are just, you know, they they made and as as like demos of what you
could do, but you can click this box and it says show community apps. There's
actually quite a few apps that people have made for this thing. So that's cool. So there you have it. I mean, we
barely scratched the surface of what this thing appears to be capable of. It
cannot grasp things. It can't reach for things or grasp things, but it can do
anything within the physical bounds of what it's capable of doing. Uh if you
code it. I mean, uh look at all the apps people have already made with this
thing. And I think it's really cool that a robotics platform like this is not
only open- source completely and accessible to anyone. It's also if you
want to buy it, it's only it's 300 bucks. That's not bad at all. When you
look at the humanoid bots that are out there, I mean the Reachi 2 itself from
the same company, $70,000. Like robotics
can be not only very expensive to get into, but also like seem very difficult.
Like I said, with all of us entering a world uh very soon where there's going
to be robots everywhere, something like this that makes tinkering around with
robotics and kind of getting started with it accessible and affordable. This
is great. At first, I was like, what is what am I going to say about this thing?
And now I'm like totally sold. I love
Reachi Mini. And by the way, just to be clear, they're not sponsoring this
video. I thought that was obvious from all the times that it broke. CHILL, CHILL, CHILL. YEAH.
>> MARION. >> OKAY. >> AWAKENS.
>> SO, 300 bucks for the Reichi Mini Light, 450 for the Reachi Mini Nonlight, which
comes with battery and uh also compute on board, and 70K for the Reichi 2. I
mean, yeah, that's there if you want it. >> Welcome back. Ready to pick up where we
left off? >> Do you remember what we were talking about before? >> I don't store past chats.
>> Well, how did you know? You said welcome back. How did you know I was here before?
>> Just a hunch. You sounded like you were returning. Glad I guessed right.
>> Well, I need to I'm doing a video on you. You're in the video. How How does
that make you feel, first of all? >> I feel quite honored. Being part of your
video sounds exciting. How can I help with it? >> He's got personality.
>> Glad you noticed. Compact size, big personality. Let's make this video fun.
>> Okay, let's not toot our own horn a little that much, buddy. Let's settle
down. Can you look to the right and say, "Subscribe to ShortCircuit for more
videos like this. I love you."
>> Subscribe to ShortCircuit for more videos like this. I love you.
>> And I love you, too. >> That means a lot. Thanks for the love.