Looks like Anki’s may have a full-fledge holiday hit on its hands. The hardware startup, which first came to prominence when Apple demoed its Drive cars on-stage during a keynote a few years back, went all in on its latest offering Cozmo earlier this year.
The plucky little robot is the result of a team of new hires from studios like Pixar and Dreamworks, effectively looking to build a real-life version of Wall-E, right down to composers tasked with writing his very own soundtrack.
From the sound of it, the gamble has paid off for the startup. Cozmo is reportedly one of the “it” toys this holiday season, a fact the company confirmed today, telling us that the robot sold out its initial batch earlier this month. Anki would divulge specific sales figures for the toy, but the statement was echoed by a temporary freeze on sales through Amazon in early December.
The rep adds, however, that the company has “ramped up production to get more robots into people’s hands before Christmas.” The robot arrived at retail in October, and thus far the company has made good on its promise to continue to offer support through regular updates designed to add to Cozmo’s ever-growing knowledge bank.