Anki's cute Vector robot will soon get Alexa integration

Vector, Anki's tiny Wall-E look-alike, is getting Alexa integration by way of a software update rolling out on December 17th. Company chief Boris Sofman first announced Anki's efforts to add Alexa support to the cute assistant robot's repertoire back in October, since it was apparently one of the most requested features on the product's Kickstarter campaign. Now, the robotics and AI startup has released a video teaser showing how the integration would work.

Anki didn't exactly program Alexa's features into Vector. Instead, Alexa takes over the robot when you talk to it -- just say "Alexa" and then follow that up with a command. If you want the voice assistant to adjust the temperature or to switch off the lights, for instance, just talk to it via Vector. The robot will switch modes and will show a blue ring on its screen to indicate that you're talking to Alexa and not Vector's AI. You can also use Vector to ask the voice assistant to adjust the temperature, add items to your shopping list, among other things. But it still can't replace your Echo speaker: Anki said you still can't use Alexa on Vector to stream music, call contacts and to access the AI's Kindle and Audible features.