Hanns Tappeiner, who founded Anki with Mark Palatucci and Boris Sofman in 2010, has been named Director of Product Development at Apple’s Special Projects Group. Tappeiner within the last few days updated his LinkedIn profile, which indicates he started working at Apple’s Special Projects Group in August 2019. Apple scooped up several other former Anki employees…
Anki sued for patent infringement
StretchTech is suing shuttered consumer robot maker Anki for allegedly infringing on three of its patents.
Anki co-founder addresses consumer robotics company closing
The news just broke that Anki Co-Founder and CEO Boris Sofman is now leading Waymo’s autonomous trucking efforts. Sofman wrote a blog on LinkedIn announcing the move and said 12 other former Anki employees have already joined him at Waymo. In his blog, Sofman also finally addressed Anki shutting down. Sofman’s blog is reprinted in…
Waymo hires former Anki employees, including co-founder Sofman
In what is likely the final nail in the coffin, Waymo has hired 13 former Anki employees, including Co-Founder and CEO Boris Sofman. According to Sofman’s LinkedIn profile, he is now Director of Engineering, Head of Trucking, Waymo. Sofman wrote about the news in a LinkedIn post called “A New Adventure with Waymo.” Here’s part…
Inside Anki shutdown: who owns IP, assets auction, failed partnership
For everyone wondering about a potential Anki comeback, don’t get your hopes up. Starting today and running through June 20, the assets inside Anki’s 40,000-square-foot office in San Francisco are being auctioned off. This is one of many signs that indicate there likely is no future for the consumer robotics company. Anki’s demise has been,…
Anki shutdown reinforces difficulties of robot toy market
The shock ripped through the industry, on almost every social media platform techies were bemoaning the loss of Anki. As a former robo-toy maker, I read the epitaph months earlier in the title of Lara Sorokanich’s Medium post, “Anki’s AI Robot Is a Delightful (and Expensive) Desk Toy.” When asked this week to comment, I…