Rabbit R1 starts shipping to first U.S. buyers next week

The highly anticipated artificial intelligence assistant Rabbit R1 will begin shipping to U.S. buyers this week.

According to Rabbit, the first batch of Rabbit R1 pre-orders will begin shipping on Sunday, March 31st. With U.S. deliveries taking several weeks, the company estimates initial R1 orders will reach customers “around April 24.”

The sherbet-toned orange Rabbit R1 debuted this year and attracted a lot of attention. It’s called an AI assistant, and its arrival raises a lot of questions about the usefulness and impact of AI hardware in the smartphone age. Powered by San Francisco startup Perplexity, an LL.M. from Teenage Engineering, the Rabbit R1’s sleek and vibrant design features a physical scroll wheel and rotating camera, with an adorable animated bunny on top that acts as an avatar for the artificial intelligence software.

The tech company began taking pre-orders for the Rabbit R1 in January, priced at $199, and the first batch of 10,000 units sold out quickly. The first batch of orders will be released and shipped soon, but buyers of later batches will have to wait a few months for them to arrive. Pre-orders for the seventh batch are now open.

Rabbit will also be hosting a pick-up party in New York at the end of April, open to a variety of buyers, not just bulk orders. More information and details about the party and first deliveries will be released next week.

How does the Rabbit R1 work?

Such an attractive yet minimalist design begs the question of how the device works.

The primary way the user interacts with the R1 is by pressing and holding the Push to Talk button. This allows the Rabbit OS to start listening for input. When you say your request, the carefully designed bunny head slowly rises and flows up and down. Reserve a table for dinner? R1 is up there Want a good Easter dinner recipe? No problem (although I wish there were no rabbits). Which track was sampled on Ice Cube’s hit single “It Was A Good Day”? According to their controlled video demonstration, the Rabbit R1 can handle these types of issues with ease.

Featured Image: Rabbit: R1