Digital Dream Labs

Digital Dream Labs Logo

Digital Dream Labs/Anki (or DDL for short), is an educational technology company that was founded in 2012, which is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They made Educational Video Games, and made Puzzlets (used to be called Ludos). In 2020, they bought Anki's assets due to Anki's Bankruptcy. In 2025, DDL rebranded to Anki, and Zack Anton took over as CEO.

History

Puzzlets Cork The Volcano Box

Digital Dream Labs was founded in 2012 by Peter Kinney, Jacob Hanchar, Matt Stewart, and Justin Sabo. The reason why is because they wanted to make educational video games for children and wanted to innovate. Their first product was Ludos (however was changed to Puzzlets immediately after), which uses toy puzzle pieces to control Video Games. They also made video games too like Cork the Volcano for the product Ludos. Digital Dream Labs mission was the spark the curiosity in us all, mixing nostalgia with the technology children crave.

However, Peter Kinney stepped down in 2016, Matt Stewart in 2018, and even Justin Sabo the same year. This only left Jacob Hanchar as the last remaining CEO of DDL.

Anki's Acquisition

In 2019, Anki filed for bankruptcy, for not managing their money right, as they spent a lot on Cozmo and Vector. A lot of people were shocked, as Anki sold a lot of Robots, people respected the company, and a lot of people liked their products. This was also terrible news for Vector owners as the Robot required Servers to even work properly. Anki found a way to keep the servers up for a while, but then Digital Dream Labs in 2020 bought Anki's Assets. Including Cozmo, Vector, Overdrive, Social Media profile, Company Name, and other things. DDL announced this on their social media. However, this meant that DDL would not be making any more Video Games, or even care about Puzzlets. They also announced that Vector would require a paid subscription called DDL Connect, which the community didn't like.

List of Ideas

Once Anki's assets were bought, DDL was going to be "improving" Vector, Cozmo, and Overdrive. They also were going to make other robots too.

Butter Robot (Cancelled)

Butter Robot

Butter Robot was supposed to be a partnership between DDL and Warner Brothers, to make a real robot based on the 'Butter Robot' in the show Rick & Morty. It would pass the butter like in the show. It was later cancelled due to Warner Bros and DDL couldn't get along as well. However, the Butter Robot is now being made by CircuitMess. No one has received this robot.

InfiniDrive (Seemingly Cancelled)

Infinidrive

DDL was planning to make a product similar to Overdrive but the battery in the cars don't have to be charged (wireless charging on a specific track), with the name "InfiniDrive" (likely from the idea of infinite battery). DDL hosted Webinars about how the Status was about DDL's Robots, but we've not heard anything since 2023.

Vector 2.0 (Released)

Vector 2.0 Box

Vector 2.0 is supposed to be Vector but better, with a better camera, the DDL logo, and a better battery. This robot was then soon released in 2022, two years after 2020's pre-orders and some people still haven't received it to this day.

Cozmo 2.0 (Possibly In Development)

Cozmo 2.0 Box

Cozmo 2.0's design has been updated to look like a Vector modified to be looking like a Cozmo. The same states with Vector 2.0, better battery, better camera, and the ddl logo. Prototype versions of this Robot has been posted to DDL's YouTube channel, but no updates have been given since 2022.

Drama

When people pre-ordered Vector 2.0, the Butter Robot, and Cozmo 2.0, people were concerned about why it took so long. Even to this day, no one has recieved their Cozmo 2.0, and the Butter Robot is never going to even be delivered. In 2021, EMO was released by Living AI. Digital Dream Labs found out about Emo, and then sent a Cease and Desist Letter to Living AI. The reason why was because DDL saw EMO as a clone of Cozmo and Vector. Eventually DDL sued Living AI. This lawsuit took a while, and ended in 2024 with no winner at all. DDL then apparently got sued by the Pittsburgh Attorney General, because DDL didn't fulfill orders in a reasonable time.

Digital Dream Labs then also got exposed for not paying their employees (they do now), and people have reported Swelling Batteries with the Vector 2.0, and Vectors Screen is also smaller than the 1.0 too. The biggest drama was when DDL's servers went down in 2023, when they didn't tell their customers until a few days earlier, saying that they were doing maintenance on the servers. However, you don't just shut off the servers and then a few days earlier you say "Maintenance is happening." People found out that DDL wasn't even doing any maintenance at all. What happened was DDL forgot to pay their AWS Server, and they had to use Azure instead. However, during that time, an Employee according to DDL, stole the code from the Servers and left the company which is why the Servers were down for a while. Jacob Hanchar was arrested too, and the Building DDL stayed at was up for lease. People thought they went out of Business.

The Current State of DDL

In Late 2024, DDL started to post on their social media again, which was a shock to everyone. DDL later announced that the servers were going to come for the lifetime subscription people and soon after all subscriptions, and the Subscription Portal would return for more Subscription Purchases. Vector 2.0 also went into Stock, and The Vector App was still being made, so the only way to connect to the new servers was via the Vector Web Setup. Eventually the Vector Robot app came both for Android and later on iOS, but had a lot of bugs. The Vector App would also finally get it's own overhaul with a newer text and newer Icons. It was also revealed that Zack Anton was going to be the new CEO of DDL, and Jacob Hanchar would be retiring. On their social media, DDL said something big would happen soon. It turns out the big surprise was them rebranding to Anki after 13 years of being called DDL. They also announced Vector will be getting a new feature, which can cast Vector's sound to another device. And the latest news, Vector will be able to speak other languages.

Sub-Pages

DDL Connect/Vector AI Subscription

DDL Connect is a subscription made by DDL, required to use voice commands on prod OS Vectors.