LAS VEGAS — Remember Anki, the little iOS-powered toy car app that Apple brought up on stage for its World Wide Developers Conference last year?
We got to catch up with them at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show to talk about the app, the AI-controlled toy cars, and how they’ve created the latest must-have toy gadget with Apple’s help.
Honestly, they had us at “robotics and artificial intelligence.” What’s super exciting here is the ability to run up to four cars at once, with three of them racing you via the AI system. Very futuristic, this.
The company was founded in 2010 by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute graduates and is backed by several funders in addition to Apple. Anki means to “learn by heart,” if you were wondering.
While the starter kit is a bit pricey at $199, it does come with two cars and the racing mat. Extra cars will cost $69 after that, but the app itself is free. Hooray!
AnkiDrive is available now at every Apple retail store in the US and Canada.
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
One response to “Hands-On: AnkiDrive Shows Off iOS-Powered Toy Car Racing [CES 2014]”
We have this. It’s expensive, but fun!