The app is compatible with both Android and iOS. In time, she will be able to hold verbal conversations, but in the meantime you can communicate with her via messages in the controlling app throughout the day. There’s Bluetooth and a permanent connection to the internet, and the Gatebox can be linked up to a TV using an HDMI connection.Ĭonversing in Japanese only, Hikari understands many things, but she is still learning and her language skills are growing. The sensors mean she can recognize your face and your voice, and is designed to be a companion who can wake you up in the morning, fill you in on your day’s activities, remind you of things to remember, and even welcome you back when you return home from work. The result is a fully interactive virtual girl, who at her most basic can control your smart home equipment. On the outside are microphones, cameras, and sensors to detect temperature and motion, so she can interact with you on a more personal level, rather than being a voice on your phone.
Instead of a simple, cylindrical speaker design, Gatebox has a screen and a projector, which brings Hikari - her name, appropriately, means “light” - to life inside the gadget.
But none can seemingly compare with the experience provided by Azuma Hikari, the holographic character who lives inside the Gatebox, Japan’s sort-of-but-not-really answer to the Amazon Echo. So are Siri, Cortana, and the various other artificially intelligent assistants available today. Fitbit Versa 3Īlexa, the voice inside your Amazon Echo or Dot, is very helpful and always accommodating.