Rabbit's AI Assistant Is Here. And Soon a Camera Wearable Will Be Too

The pathway leading into Rabbit's venue—for the launch event of the R1, an artificial intelligence-powered device announced at CES 2024—was paved with gadgets from the past.

First was the orange JVC Videosphere, then the Sony Walkman, a Tamagotchi, a transparent GameBoy Color, heck, even the original Pokédex toy from 1998. At the very end of the hall was Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operator, and across from it, a few concept prototypes of the Rabbit R1.

If the Pocket Operator stands out, seeing as it's barely a decade old, that's because the Swedish design-firm Teenage Engineering helped design the R1. And at the launch event, CEO Jesse Lyu announced on stage that Jesper Kouthoofd, founder of Teenage Engineering, has joined Rabbit as its chief design officer (while still maintaining his role as CEO of TE).

This red little retro gadget isn't just pulling our nostalgia strings and taking design cues from the second half of the 1900s—Rabbit is also making a bold claim that its R1 deserves a spot in this tech hall of fame.

Even the venue being the iconic TWA Hotel at at JFK Airport, New York, which very much feels like a live-action set of The Jetsons and boasts a restored Lockheed Constellation «Connie» L-1649A that's been repurposed into a cocktail lounge, underscored this yearning for the fun gadgetry of the past, and the exciting promise the future glory.

Fifty years from now, the R1 is that gadget you'll reminisce about that was at the start of the AI-fueled world. At least that's what Lyu hopes.

“Our mission is to create the simplest computer," Lyu announced on stage to a captive audience—and over the course of an hour, Lyu laid out plans to achieve this goal. The R1, it turns out, is just the start.