A Real Life R2D2 For Your Home

Mobile computing, driven by smartphones, smart watches, and tablets, has completely revolutionized the way we interact with digital systems. No longer are we tied down to a single monitor, but rather we have the freedom to take our digital lives with us wherever we go. There is one downside to this however: the screen size of the devices is often quite small and does not often provide the same experience as you would get from a larger home theatre or PC monitor.

Enter the Keecker. This device occupies the role of a “HomePod” something which its makers are calling a wholly new category of devices. Effectively, what the Keecker is is a mobile audio-visual projection unit. Taking the form of an R2D2-eqsue robot, the device can trundle around your home, and then synchronize with devices in order to project their content.

With its inbuilt projectors and speakers, the device becomes a fully mobile screen system. Any wall or surface inside your home can instantly transform into a huge display for the synced device. In addition, the Keecker doubles as an immersive wireless surround sound system, with its inbuilt speakers able to project sound in 360 degrees.

The device itself is also of course a very mobile robot. Moving in a similar fashion to a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, it can easily navigate between rooms in your house, and even some outdoor environments. Furthermore, it can be summoned through a smartphone app and will autonomously pilot itself to a user, avoiding obstacles (such as other people) on its way.

Currently the Keecker is looking for funding on Kickstarter to build a final version of its product. The device has already exceeded its funding target of $100,000 within just days of being listed, proving there is significant public interest in the device. This being said, it doesn’t come cheap, with a user needing to pledge $2000 for a special “low cost version of the device.