Otto Home Robot
A home robot with a face you could trust. Samsung's answer to Jibo and Echo, but more endearing and emotional.
Otto was our attempt at Jibo, Echo, or Google Home, but we wanted something more endearing and emotional, simple and trustworthy. Most home assistants felt like an appliance on a shelf. Otto needed a face and a temperament a family would actually want in the room.
The hard part was making a machine feel warm without making it gimmicky. It had to read as simple and honest, present in everyday moments like a bedtime story or a kid drawing at the table, without asking for attention it had not earned.
Lead with a face
The eyes and expression are the interface. Otto shows attention, mood, and state through its face before it ever shows a screen of controls, so a glance tells you what it is doing.
Earn trust through simplicity
Interactions were kept simple and legible. Otto sits inside family life, reading along, watching a child draw, present without being demanding.
A character, not an appliance
Otto and its companion Buddy were designed to feel endearing and trustworthy, a member of the household rather than a voice box.
The face is the system. A small vocabulary of eye and expression states carries attention, listening, thinking, and mood, so the robot communicates before any words.
Otto led with character. The expression set did the work a status light or a screen would do on a normal device.
The face does the talking
Eyes and expression shift to show listening, thinking, and response. The motion is what makes Otto read as alive and trustworthy instead of mechanical.
Character and face
The expression system and the look of Otto, tuned to feel warm and honest.
Otto and Buddy
The home robot and its smaller companion device, designed as a pair.
Concept film
A film placing Otto in real family moments to sell the feeling, not just the spec.
The goal was to move the home assistant from appliance to companion.
A voice box on a shelf
A character with a face and a mood
Commands
Presence and expression
A device
Endearing and trustworthy
Otto was a concept from Samsung's ID8 innovation lab, an exploration of what a warmer home robot could be. The character, the interaction model, and the film were built to make the case.
Robot and companion
Interaction model
Samsung innovation lab
Concept
Creative direction for Otto's character and interaction model at Samsung's ID8 lab, the expression system, and the concept film.
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