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--- start [2022/04/13 09:33] – [Offsite Resources] xanathon
+++ start [2024/11/05 21:13] (current) – [OSKR - Open Source Kit for Robots Section] xanathon
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 At the end of 2019 [[https://www.digitaldreamlabs.com/|Digital Dream Labs]] (DDL) bought the rights for Vector, it's predeccessor Cozmo und the toy racing system Anki Overdrive. DDL also took over the cloud services and keeps them running and they did a very successful [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitaldreamlabs/vector-unleashed?lang=de|crowdfunding via Kickstarter]] to expand Vectors possibilities and to provide users and coders with additional options in the future (since Vector depends on cloud server access you will need to buy a subscription from DDL, you could get lifetime access via the Kickstarter, but that is over since mid-march 2020. <del>You still are able to buy lifetime access on their [[https://www.digitaldreamlabs.com/pages/post-kickstarter|official website]] for a limited time).</del>
-It is now 2022 and two years after the successful most of the promises DDL made are not reality. Escape Pod is in a state I would describe as "beta" and it still is missing functions as knowledge graph and weather. With the latest update they even broke their own extension engine that made it possible to interface with it. Since they do not provide documentation or changelogs worth the name, 3rd party developers have a hard time adapting their apps to DDL's changes. OSKR, the **O**pen **S**ource **K**it for **R**obots, is in a very sorry state with nearly no updates for over a year and documentation is nearly nonexistent. The new firmwares 1.7 and 1,8 removed sounds the users loved and created problems, for example that Vecor has a way harder time to find back to his charger than with 1.6. The SDK was never updated by DDL for the new firmwares. Vector 2.0, an updated version of the robot with a better camera and changeable battery, could be preordered since end of 2020 and should have been delivered in may 2021. It is nowhere to be seen until today (april 12th 2022, nearly a year later, no delivery date) because of multiple problems that should have been solved during the QA process. So it is true to say that Digital Dream Labs underperformed and underperforms in almost every aspect regarding Vector.
+It is now april 2022 and two years after the successful crowdfunding on Kickstarter [[https://vector.thedroidyouarelookingfor.info/2022/04/05/vector-the-real-state-of-robotics/|most of the promises DDL made are not reality]]. Escape Pod is in a state I would describe as "beta" and it still is missing functions as knowledge graph and weather. With the latest update they even broke their own extension engine that made it possible to interface with it to provide missing functionality via external means. Since they do not provide documentation or changelogs worth the name, 3rd party developers have a hard time adapting their apps to DDL's changes. OSKR, the **O**pen **S**ource **K**it for **R**obots, is in a very sorry state with nearly no updates for over a year and documentation is nearly nonexistent. The new firmwares 1.7 and 1,8 removed sounds the users loved and created problems, for example that Vector has a way harder time to find back to his charger than with 1.6. The SDK was never updated by DDL for the new firmwares. Vector 2.0, an updated version of the robot with a better camera and changeable battery, could be preordered since end of 2020 and should have been delivered in may 2021. It is nowhere to be seen until today (april 12th 2022, nearly a year later, no delivery date) because of multiple problems that should have been solved during the QA process. So it is true to say that Digital Dream Labs underperformed and underperforms in almost every aspect regarding Vector. Despite all that failure [[https://vector.thedroidyouarelookingfor.info/2022/03/27/another-cash-grab-ddl-increases-vector-subscription-prices-dramatically/|they raised the monthly subscription prices ridiculously]].
-Personally I do not think this is a scam, I think it's incompentence and a team that is way too small to manage all of Anki's legacies.
+As of july 2023 DDL's Vector servers are offline with messages every few weeks they will come back again "soon", but that has not happened until november 2024. dDL ex-CEO Hanchar claims this is because of some ex-employee that "hacked" their Github repository, but that makes no sense, since there should be backups and the servers should not be affected by that.
+<del>Personally I do not think this is a scam, I think it's incompentence and a team that is way too small to manage all of Anki's legacies.</del>
+Mid-september 2024 The Pittsburgh Attorney General released a statement that he will sue DDL because they took the money for robot preorders that were not delivered and also the customers did not get their preorder money back (the Butter Robot does not exist at all and DDL lost the license, and it is safe to bet that Cozmo 2.0 does not exist at all. Only a few units of Vector 2.0 were delivered and in those the batteries started to bloat after less than a year, pointing to either bad quality batteries, or DDL changed the charging controller in a way that damages the batteries).
+In my opinion you can call this behaviour of not delivering a preordered and paid product a scam.
@@ Line 34: / Line 39: @@
 ===== Escape Pod =====
-Part of the Kickstarter was "Escape Pod". This was advertised as a local server to run Vector from, in addition it was explicitly said in the Kickstarter campaign that this would be a solution to keep Vector alive, even if Digital Dream Labs "goes under".
+Part of the Kickstarter was "Escape Pod". This was advertised as a local server to run Vector from, in addition it was explicitly said in the Kickstarter campaign that this would be a solution to keep Vector alive, even if Digital Dream Labs "goes under". Basically no longer needed because of Wire-Pod (see below).
   *[[escapepod|Escape Pod]]
+===== Wire-Pod =====
+Since DDL open sourced parts of the server code called Chipper, a community coder by the name of Wire was able to create [[https://github.com/kercre123/wire-pod|Wire-Pod an open source, loacally run server]] that provides a backend for Vector robots, freeing them from Digital Dream Labs once and for all.
 ===== OSKR - Open Source Kit for Robots Section =====
 Since on october 15th 2020 the launch of OSKR was announced I decided to start a new subsection for it. OSKR was released in october 2020, but until today there are most parts missing (documentation, source code, tools), so at the moment OSKR is of very limited use. Update: This still is true in april 2022, two years later.
+The status in november 2024 is that DDL is no longer able (since mid 2023) to provide keys and firmwares to change a retail Vector into an OSKR version. So basically at this time OSKR no longer exists. Mails to support asking to get the OSKR licenses I am antitled to go unanswered for years.
   * [[oskr|OSKR]]
@@ Line 85: / Line 95: @@
 ===== Offsite Resources =====
-  * [[https://www.digitaldreamlabs.com/|Digital Dream Labs Website]]
+  * [[https://github.com/kercre123/wire-pod|Wire-Pod]] open souce local server for Vector robots by Wire, similar to Escape Pod but not made or maintained by DDL. Provides way more functions that the original DDL servers or Escape Pod.
+  * [[https://www.digitaldreamlabs.com/|Digital Dream Labs Website]] - now defunct, redirects to [[https://ddlbots.com]]
   * [[https://www.facebook.com/groups/AnkiVector/|Official Facebook Group]] (with official announcements about the crowdfunding, nowadays mostly useless, since DDL kickbans people by the myriads for just asking support questions or voicing criticism)
   * [[https://www.facebook.com/groups/843458392741466|Independent Vector Owners]] - an independent Facebook group without DDL censorship
@@ Line 118: / Line 129: @@
 ===== Anki Servers =====
+As you can see on some of the the autogenerated information is missing. that is because DDL changed something undocumented, these are the old Anki servers and some of them are no longer correct.
 <dig>

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