Cerevo is the sort of company that takes risks and innovates in an industry where that isn’t always the case. I’m not saying in design or ideas (there are plenty), but in implementation. So much of tech is a sort of “look at we can do,” but it’s rarely a “look what we are doing.” I get emails every single day of really cool ideas that are nothing but PR stunts. This isn’t to say designers and engineers don’t want to see their product hit the market, but they often fail when a bunch of suits get involved. So instead of actual innovation you get the 5th iPhone that is nearly identical to what came before.
I say all this because Tipron should not exist. That’s not a knock on this wild little projector robot, but I say it because it’s exactly the sort of thing that becomes vaporware in a tech industry that loves the idea of innovations, but not actually going through with them. Tipron looks like a robot buddy pulled straight out of a 1980s science fiction film. You can’t not see this little guy and not say “cool,” which is exactly what everyone that came through the office said. That or they completely freaked out when Tipron started moving about to begin projecting.
But just what is Tipron and what can this little guy do? Tipron is a home robot (I’ll touch on this a little later) that can automatically project an 80 inch screen wherever you want. But where Tipron brings the magic is in it being smart enabled, which makes sense as Cerevo is a smart focused company. Tipron (or Tippy as we’ve dubbed him) can move about freely on his own and project all sorts of content on any surface you want.
Tipron’s ball-like head can move all around so that he can project an image on a wall, the ceiling, the floor, side of a desk and on and on. For those tech heads out there, Tipron’s movement specs are: up/down (pitch axis) -35/+90 degrees, left/right (yaw axis) ±90 degrees, rotation (roll axis) ±90 degrees. You control Tipron via the connected app (we used it on Android) and can control him with some pretty robust controls. Aside from the basic movement controls that are quick and responsive, you also have a suite of camera controls that managed to surprise me.
You can manually tilt the camera all sorts of ways, including pulling and pushing edges, focusing and rotating. This means no matter where Tipron projects you can have yourself a clear, crisp image that is always level. All of this would make Tipron a fantastic piece of kit, but the thing that blew people away was Tipron seemingly working on his own. To be fair, Tipron isn’t that smart (that would be scary), but he sure seems that way when you first meet him.
This all works because you can pre-program Tipron via the Android/iOS app. When Tipron is docked, you can open up the app and hit the program tab. The app will then instruct you to take control of Tipron and set him up wherever you want. For us, we piloted him from his dock in the hallway into the open meeting area. You then send him back home and the process is complete. You can then simply tap the program icon and Tipron will carry out your orders. Even cooler is that you can set Tipron on a schedule and have Tipron meet you someplace at a specific time.
This is all really cool, as I setup Tipron to automatically move to the meeting room at 8:45AM and fire up my favorite YouTube playlist of music. So when I walked in at 9:00AM, Tipron was already grooving out and helping us get the day started with a fun kick. Now, the speaker that’s built into the unit is monaural so it’s not going to give a theater experience, but it gets the job done. Now all this sounds pretty wild, and it is, but it’s hard to deny how cool it all sounds. This little robot boasts 80 inches for a screen, but like anyone, we pushed it and it held up fine at 100 inches, even with its 250 lumens bulb. It of course works better with less light, but it does a fine job in a well-lit room.
When not in use Tipron heads to its docking station and shrinks down to a compact state that looks like one of those mouse droids from Star Wars. And my worry with all this movement, especially in an office-like setting would be how tripped up Tipron would get. Luckily this smart little dude will stop to avoid obstacles that are in his way thanks to it’s sensors. The front lower grill also has a bump sensor that works quite well. Not only that, but if contact is detected you will be alerted via the app of a collision so you can go check on it. It’s also equipped with IR distance camera, depth sensor, and video/still camera. There is a lot packed into this thing.
The basic app is pretty limited if you want to use something other than YouTube for video content. That’s not to say you can’t do more, as you can pump in any RSS feed you want to display news and the like. This makes Tipron great for projecting morning news or keeping your twitter feed news slowing rolling. Still, video is a problem, at least right now. That said you can use the built-in USB ports to playback video content that you have pre-loaded onto it. Tipron also has a built in HDMI projector so you can plug into it anything you want. That Xbox One of PS4 looks mighty fine on game night via the unit.
I would have loved more support, especially for the price, as sticking a Roku stick into the USB slot is okay, but I’d really like to not have to use another controller and device. Updates have been coming for things so I can only hope it gets some sort of streaming service (I’d even be fine with a free one) in the future to really make this a home projector powerhouse. And that’s where I come to the biggest failing of Tipron, especially with how it’s being presented.
As a home projector it just doesn’t make a lot of sense. Sure, good projectors are expensive and don’t tend to have built-in streaming capabilities, but they are also meant to be kept in one place. As moving is Tipron’s main purpose, it’s really hard to keep something plugged into to it. Tipron probably isn’t going to replace your home projector no matter how cool it is. That said, in an office setting or at a tech start-up Tipron makes a lot more sense.
I like Tipron quite a bit, but no matter how cool it is and the boundaries is pushes, I just can’t bring myself to recommend, it. I’ve kept quiet on the price, but Tippy boy is going to cost you $2,299.00. That’s a price point that made me choke on my lunch when I first read it. Justified? Totally, for everything in side this thing, but it’s still a scary number. And that’s the main reason I don’t see this making a home, well, in the home.
Like with most of the things that Cerevo do, Tipron is a very niche product, but that’s exactly why I love it. Without taking risks and actually bringing cool ideas to market the industry stagnates. Tipron in that regard isn’t going to be for everyone, but there is a very small niche that is going to get a real kick out of it. And I’m, sure Cerevo is taking the tech here and expanding on it in other smart enabled devices.
To find out more, or to snag you own Tipron, you can visit: https://tipron.cerevo.com/en/
A demo unit was proivided for this review
About Author
