The Rabbit R1, a cute little bright orange box with an AI inside that you can talk to, while decent at answering general questions, will not be catching Amazon Flex blocks anytime soon. In fact, it can’t do much of anything very well at the moment, but I want to believe..
So, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! (just kidding). It’s good for a few things but my girlfriend said it best, “It’s a $200 toy and the AI is stupid.” As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right. The AI’s responses are more often than not, totally wrong. For example, I asked it about the mountains around Portland, Oregon and it gave me inaccurate answers. To get the right answers, you have to ask very specific questions.
But I did discover that it can do some fun things, like give me tarot card readings. I point the R1’s camera at some tarot cards that I drew in real life, and ask for a reading. The Rabbit then did a pretty good job at reading the combination of cards. It can also be used to play trivia, rock paper scissors, and more. I think the device has a lot of potential and even though it could have been “just an app”, I’m glad that it isn’t. The R1’s design is the best part about the whole thing and it looks great sitting on my desk. I just wish I had a reason to reach for it more.
Check out the video below for my breakdown of the R1 and it’s potential use cases for gig workers:
Potential Uses for Gig Workers
At the moment the device requires too much fiddling to really be useful while working. You’ll end up spending more time trying to phrase things in the right way than you would getting stuff done. I was able to ask it for the Amazon Flex driver support phone number, and it worked on the first try. But the thing is, the AI often provides wrong answers. So you can’t trust what it tells you.
Maybe some day down the road after some updates, this could be a good device to have on deck. Here a some potential uses for gig workers when or if that happens:
- Traffic Updates: It’d be nice to be able to get traffic updates from the Rabbit while out on a route. Sure, you could use your phone for this. But that requires you to focus on the screen. With the Rabbit, you could simply ask and get a response, while staying focused on the job.
- Apartment Complex Layout: Instead of studying an apartment complex map to find units, wouldn’t it be nice to simply use the Rabbit R1’s camera and ask it where buildings are? I think so. The Rabbit could save us some time at the dreaded apartment mazes.
- Support Phone Numbers: We could ask it for Amazon Flex, Uber, Lyft, etc.. support phone numbers when we need it. We could even ask the Rabbit what we should say so that we’re prepared.
Overall the Rabbit R1 is a novelty device and your smartphone can already do everything it can do but better. I do like the simplicity of pressing a button, asking a question, and getting an answer from the Rabbit. However, it just isn’t reliable enough at the moment to depend on it in serious situations like work.
Summary
For now the Rabbit R1 is nothing more than a cool looking device that sits on my desk. It’s a $200 AI toy that’s fun to occasionally mess around with. It doesn’t do anything very well, not even answering simple questions. It’s wrong so often that you can’t trust what it says.
I’ve seen lot’s of posts on the Internet of people saying they’re returning their devices for a refund, and I don’t blame them. But I do like having the Rabbit around for when I’m bored and I want to believe that the team behind it will make it better with updates.
Should you buy a Rabbit R1?
If you’re okay with parting with $200 for a device that can’t really do much but is kind of fun to mess around with but will probably sit around unused most of the time.. then YES, go for it. If you want a device that does the things that the company said that it would.. then NO. It doesn’t do the things that the Rabbit company said that it would, like “act as a human assistant”. It’s not an assistant because it’s responses are not accurate and can’t be trusted. At least.. for now.
Subscribe to the blog to stay updated. Let me know if there’s anything you want me to ask the Rabbit R1 in the comments below and I’ll share the results.
Appreciate it! See you in the next one.
