Spending time with our loved ones can be difficult today while we're expected to be always "on", willing to drop anything for an email or text from a boss. And with fears of, well, everything, at an all time high, parents are more likely than ever to want to know what their kids are up to. How are you supposed to stay on top of it all while still providing your family with enough stability to survive in a world of skyrocketing living costs and wage stagnation?

Enter Moorebot. This little bot, created by Chinese studio Pilot Labs, is a one eyed monster that sits on your counter, bedside table or desk. An uncannily cheery video for the bot showcases its various functions. Moorebot can communicate, learning words and behaviors quickly. It can use its mawing camera eye to capture action, such as your young daughter running across the room, which can be viewed by parents on their smartphones at a safe distance. It can look up information for you via your online accounts, acting as a personal assistant. Moorebot can also take photos, seemingly autonomously.

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Moorebot's promo video hammers in the idea that this cuddly device is entirely innocuous. The video even begins with a tribute to the classic Pixar lamp animation, cementing that this is a friendly robot, like WALL-E (not, of course, like WALL-E's cyclops nemesis who keeps humans pacified while it controls them). People seem to agree with this assessment, as Moorebot has already surpassed its $30,000 fundraising goal on Indiegogo.

While it skeeves us out to watch a one-eyed laughing camera read a bedtime story to a girl who looks on lovingly, the really uncomfortable thing about Moorebot is the normalization of surveillance as part of our daily lives. Why wouldn't you install a camera in your home that tracks your family's every move? Well, we can think of a few reasons, but it seems only time will tell. Meanwhile, your kids better practice drawing a laughing machine into your family photos.

Source: New York Magazine

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