Misty Robotics, a recent spin-off of Sphero, this week introduced a decidedly non-consumer device at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Misty I Developer Edition is the first step of a start-up with ambitions even greater than the one that gave birth to it. In June, the company announced the creation of an $ 11.5 million Series A, led by Venrock and Foundry Group, as part of its construction projects for a generalist domestic robot with skills. much larger than the Roomba leader.

A first attempt at this will happen later in the year, in the form of Misty II, a more polished and marketed version of the company 's robotic platform. For the moment, however, its purpose is much narrower, with plans to woo developers, as it works to build something more suited to the home market.



Misty I Developer Edition is a kind of Apple I at the Apple II Misty II. There will probably be a developer version of the II, but the company renouncing the mainstream version of I. Everything is understandably a little convoluted at first glance, but the startup is working to get its sea legs because he is preparing for the impossible: a domestic robot capable of doing everything. At a briefing in a hotel suite at CES this week, CEO Tim Enwall and Product Manager Ian Bernstein presented a pretty grand roadmap for me.

This is a ten-year plan, according to Enwall, and start-up investors have apparently accepted this extremely long track. After all, someone must bring robots into the mainstream, is not it? So why not Misty? Bernstein was the founder and technical director of Sphero, who quickly switched from remote control to darling Disney, and Enwall led Revolv, who was finally sucked into Google / Nest.

There is a small army of Misty I in the suite of the hotel when we meet the team. Bernstein puts one on the ground and pulls it. It has the ET body type: The alien, balanced on four wheels and built a black plastic exoskeleton, it's maybe a bit more Xenomorph. While Misty (which her creators mostly call "her") fires, a pair of dots inside two parentheses simulates a semblance of eyes on what looks like a blue screen of death.

When they are fully operational, the eyes are a little more realistic, even though they are still in their infancy. There is nothing here that looks like the animated personality that Anki has developed for Cozmo by bringing together a team of animators from places such as Pixar and Dreamworks. In fact, many things about this first model Misty are rudimentary, and that's a bit of a point. The robot performs a similar role to Willow Garage's Turtlebot or iRobot's Create, offering developers a way to build ideas on a robotic platform.

This is a much more limited offer, however. Enwall tells me that it takes four to six hours for his team to build a unit, or about five to ten units a week. This is not exactly a solid business model in the long run. Instead, the company will evaluate potential developers through its online platform and, hopefully, create a software ecosystem prior to the launch of Misty II.

Bernstein presents some of the quick and dirty features that early developers have programmed at a recent hackathon. In the most compelling demo, Misty I uses her onboard camera and facial recognition to detect people. When she sees them, she comes back on her wheels as if she were surprised. It is far from the security and connectivity of the smart home planned for its already announced successor, but it's a start.

Absolutely, everything feels a bit like watching a baby take his first slender steps. These are the first public movements of a start-up that has a long road ahead of it – a prospect that is both scary and full of hope.