Vector
Vector is a little AI-powered robot that is packed with technology—and character. It's designed as a robot companion and helper for people at home. Vector was developed by Anki, a San Francisco startup founded by Boris Sofman, Mark Palatucci, and Hanns Tappeiner, who met as students in the PhD program at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. The company's first products were the robot racing games Anki Drive and Anki Overdrive in 2013 and 2015, respectively. They were followed by Cozmo, a small programmable robot, and then Vector, a social AI-powered robot released in 2018. Anki raised a total of US $182.5 million from Andreessen Horowitz, JP Morgan, and other investors. In April 2019, after failing to secure a critical round of funding, Anki shut down. Later that year, Anki assets, including Overdrive, Cozmo, and Vector, were acquired by Digital Dream Labs, in Pittsburgh, Pa. The company now offers Vector 2.0, which received both hardware and software upgrades. [Vector released on October 12th, 2018]
Changes between Vector 1.0 and 2.0
- Unscrewable Battery Compartment added to make battery replacements much easier
- JST connector added to remove the need to solder new replacement batteries
- Motors made quieter
- New screen added (lower quality but users report its not very noticable)
If you need to replace the battery on your vector, a 503040 sized battery with 600mah is recommended, make sure it has a JST connector if you have a Vector 2.0.
Vector SDK
The SDK gives full access to all of Vector's hardware and software features available from Vector's firmware. This even includes features currently not available from of the official Python SDK including face enrollment, and adjusting Vector's permanent settings. The API design follows the design of the Python SDK but deviates in a few places for simplicity or consistency with the underlying gRPC API.
OSKR
OSKR was a service provided by DDL to allow people to install custom firmware on their Vector for a fee. As of June 2025 the only way to get OSKR is to buy a Vector 2.0 from the DDL Store that is pre-loaded with OSKR. You used to be able to buy it directly for your bot, but DDL removed that option.
App Version Changelog
App Version 1.8.3
- Release Date: February 2022
- iOS:
- Fixed an issue where users had to click the "Apply" button first to enable the Custom Eye Color Sliders, instead of simply clicking on the bars.
- Android & iOS:
- Made more helpful error screens:
- Replaced the "Get Help" links in many screens to link to much more helpful troubleshooting articles.
- Clarified the text in many error screens to be more descriptive and help users understand and solve issues.
- Fixed an issue where clicking the text on a button in the Preferences menu would not change the setting.
- Added a connection timer that allows some time for NTP to update on the robot before making a connection- this reduces the amount of "Can't Connect to Wi-Fi" errors!
- Made more helpful error screens:
App Version 1.8.2
- Release Date: October 2021
- Android & iOS:
- Fixed an issue where some users with Memberships couldn't use Color Sliders.
App Version 1.8.0
- Release Date: September 2021
- Android & iOS:
- Rebranding to Digital Dream Labs
- Added in custom eye color sliders. Controls include:
- Hue
- Saturation
- Removed those pesky symbols ("gadzooks" - literally) that were mistakenly displayed above some letters.
App Version 1.5.0
- Rolling release date: April 15-23, 2019
- Android, Fire OS, and iOS
- Bug fixes & polish
- This update also provides a few fixes to address the recent app crashes that some people are experiencing on Android 8 & 9. We'll continue to monitor this issue and update you when there's more to share
- Please note, that the robot update will be rolled out over the course of a week. Every Vector owner that leaves their robot on overnight, should get the update by April 23
App Version 1.4.0
- Release date: March 18, 2019
- Android, Fire OS, and iOS
- Adds support so that you can choose to enable Amazon Alexa in the UK and AU
App Version 1.3.1
- Release date: December 19, 2018
- Android, Fire OS, and iOS
- Bug fixes and polish
App Version 1.3.0
- Release date: December 17, 2018
- Android, Fire OS, and iOS
- Now with Amazon Alexa built-in (U.S. & CA only), Vector's voice controlled capabilities are supercharged. If you choose to set up Alexa on your Vector, he’ll have access to an ever-growing number of skills that take his helpfulness in your home to new levels.
- Triggered by the standard “Alexa” voice command, you’ll be able to:
- Control smart home devices like lights, speakers, and thermostats
- Search for information
- Add items to your shopping list
- Set reminders
- and so much more
- Additional updates include:
- New voice commands
- Hand detection
- Bug fixes and polish
App Version 1.2.0
- Release date: November 20, 2018
- Android, Fire OS, and iOS
- Improvements with Vector’s initial connection, initial software update download, and faster reconnections especially for Android devices
- Additional performance enhancements
- Crash and bug fixes, including
- Many image and text layout issues on devices with large screens or unusual resolutions
App Version 1.1.1
- Release date: October 25, 2018
- Android only
- Fixed an issue that was preventing anatomized analytics from reaching our services
App Version 1.1.0
- Release date: October 23, 2018
- Android, Fire OS, and iOS
- This new update should vastly improve your experience on Android. It also improves various issues you all have flagged for us, including improvements to the OTA update process, cosmetic enhancements in the app, and others! For details, please see below:
- Fixed multiple crashes, many are Android specific:
- Location Service
- Pressing "?" caused app to crash
- Accessing Settings caused app to crash
- OTA crash
- A few Network screen crashes
- A handful of navigation crashes
- Stall Detection during OTA (during initial OTA update, the app will detect stalling and restart download automatically)
- Fixed Sensory graph so that it doesn’t look spikey when you navigate back to it
- Disconnect monitoring for Settings
- Ability to change locale (Android-specific bug)
- Fixed "Get Help" link in Connection Flow
- Added "Uncanny Yellow" eye color and fixed tiny eye icons on some devices where it was missing
- Optimized tutorial user experience
- Added Australian time zones in settings and setup flow
- A variety of cosmetic enhancements (fixed cut off text, missing images, layout issues)
App Version 1.0.2
- Release date: October 10, 2018
- Android and Fire OS only
- Fixed an issue that was preventing anatomized analytics from reaching our services
App Version 1.0.1
- Release date: October 9, 2018
- Android, Fire OS, and iOS
- Initial Release
Sub-Pages
WireOS is an OS created by Wire/kercre123. Wire's goal is to provide a stable, up-to-date, easily-buildable base for others to clone and modify.
Viccyware is a project meant to morph Cozmo’s magic into modern VicOS
wire-pod is custom voice server software for the Anki (now Digital Dream Labs) Vector robot. It is an alternative to the official Escape Pod product and does not require any payment to Digital Dream Labs nor any connection to their servers. It works with every Vector, including ones which haven't been unlocked.
This page just details all of Vectors prototypes.
This page just details every Vector firmware verison.