LC-3 · Consumer Risk Bulletins

KRCB 2019 12

# LrrK Kinematic Consumer Risk Bulletin

**LRRK Watch / Open-Source Intelligence** — Consumer systems that sense, move, and act in homes and yards.

**Issue type.** Monthly filing.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection cutoff | 31 December 2019 |
| Platform | Quiet Systems |
| Window | 1–31 December 2019 |
| Data label | Open-source intelligence // LRRK analytic product // retrospective monthly filing |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. Retrospective reconstruction from contemporaneous public records. |
| Scope | Consumer kinematic electronics only (home, yard, companion, educational). |
| Classes in frame | Robot vacuums / mop combos · robotic lawn mowers · window-cleaning robots · pool-cleaning robots · robot pets / companion animals · social / desk companions · educational / programmable kits · robotic litter boxes · security / home patrol robots · consumer robotic arms · elder-care / assistive companions · kitchen / food-prep robots · toy / entertainment robots · niche outdoor / garden robots · emerging general-purpose or humanoid home robots |
| Spine | CPSC, Health Canada, EU Safety Gate, UK OPSS, manufacturer recall pages, named newsrooms, dockets, SEC. |
| Color | Message boards, consumer forums, and Reddit — annotated context only. Never Fact without a reputable primary. |

## Executive read

### BLUF

December is the Anki-IP month, not the January 2020 Kickstarter month. The Robot Report, updated 27 December after speaking to Digital Dream Labs founder H. Jacob Hanchar, reports DDL acquired Anki patents, trademarks, data, social media, and domain — not physical inventory. Hanchar: contractually obligated to keep Anki’s AWS servers through 30 September 2020; some non-critical Vector cloud functions already off, with an effort to turn them back on. That is a 2019 primary. The 15 January 2020 PR Newswire and the 5 January 2020 “we have taken over the cloud servers” Kickstarter line are out of window.

### Key judgments

1. **[Assessment — Hi`è confidence]** A 2019 named-newsroom primary exists (Robot Report 27 December). File the IP sale. Do not file the January 2020 formal PR as a December Fact.
2. **[Assessment — High confidence]** Hanchar’s December statements do not say every Vector was bricked in April or December 2019. They say AWS must be kept through 30 September 2020 and that some non-critical functions were already off.
3. **[Assessment — High confidence]** No December CPSC, Health Canada, OPSS, or Safety Gate in-class consumer-robot action was found. 2019 official recall IDs remain NIL.

### Analytic labels
- **Fact** — verified reporting or primary record
- **Assessment** — analytic judgment
- **Inference** — reasoned but not directly observed
- **Uncertainty** — unresolved information gap

### Source grades
- **A1** — authoritative primary record / directly confirmed
- **B1–B2** — generally reliable and corroborated
- **C3** — useful but requires caution (typical for forums)

---

## 01. Digital Dream Labs takes Anki IP — 2019 Robot Report primary; not the January 2020 PR

*Event / publication dates: 24 December 2019 (DDL tweet, as quoted); 27 December 2019, 11:00 EST update (The Robot Report / Hanchar interview)*

**Product class.** Toy / entertainment robots; social / desk companions; educational / programmable kits (Vector, Cozmo, Overdrive)

**Verified record — [Fact — B1]** The Robot Report, updated **27 December 2019 at 11 AM EST**, after speaking to Digital Dream Labs founder H. Jacob Hanchar: DDL, Pittsburgh edtech, “acquired all of Anki’s assets — patents, trademarks, data, social media, and domain.” Hilco Streambank handled the patent sale. Portfolio as listed: 45 issued utility patents (35 US); 11 published applications; 39 pending; 3 PCT national-phase; 73 issued design patents; trademarks for Anki, Cozmo, Vector, Anki Overdrive and lines in development; anki.com domain. **IP only — not physical inventory.** Hanchar: talking to former Anki staff and manufacturers; Christmas 2020 relaunch goal for Overdrive, then Cozmo, then Vector; possible early-2020 crowdfunding for an open-source Vector 2.0; “we did not pay much” and “the biggest cost… is taking on the licensing agreements from third parties like cloud services.”

On servers, as of the 27 December interview: “Digital Dream Labs is contractually obligated to maintain Anki’s servers at AWS until Sept. 30, 2020. Some of Vector’s non-critical cloud functionalities have been turned off, but Hanchar said efforts are being made to turn those back on.” Cozmo and Overdrive “don’t necessarily need constant communication with the cloud.” [The Robot Report](https://www.therobotreport.com/anki-assets-acquired-by-digital-dream-labs/). Contemporaneous reprint of a 24 December DDL tweet claiming official ownership of Anki assets: [Personal Robots, 27–28 December](https://www.personalrobots.biz/anki-aquired-by-digital-dream-labs-cozmo-and-vector-will-come-back/) — B2/C3 on the tweet capture.

**Do not preview as December Fact:** 5 January 2020 Verge / Hanchar Kickstarter line (“we have taken over the cloud servers and are going to maintain them going forward”); 15 January 2020 PR Newswire “acquired… without taking on any liabilities, effective immediately.” Those are 2020 files.

**Do not write:** Anki mass-bricked every Vector in April 2019, or that DDL’s December purchase is a court ruling on bricking. Some non-critical Vector cloud functions were already off; AWS was to be kept through 30 September 2020.

**Threat landscape.** The companion’s personality has a new invoice and a dated AWS obligation. Physical harm is none. The trust path is a successor with no inherited liabilities (that sentence is January 2020 PR — not used as December Fact) and a possible subscription model Hanchar sketched to Robot Report.

**Forum / community notes.**
- none independently opened. Personal Robots is a secondary reprint, not a spine primary.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — High confidence] December 2019 is an IP-and-server-obligation file, not a brick file. [Inference — Moderate confidence] “Non-critical” functions already off is the first documented post-Anki cloud shrinkage. [Uncertainty] Purchase price, which functions were off, and whether the 24 December tweet is still live were not independently captured.

**Opportunity.** The January 2020 Kickstarter/PR pair (out of this window) will be the public consumer notice.

**LRRK relevance.** Control Fabric and Campaign. Passport: successor acquisition as a trust instrument. Watch: AWS-through-30-Sep-2020 obligation.

**Confidence.** High on the 27 December Robot Report / Hanchar interview. Moderate on the tweet date. Low on which Vector functions were already dark.

---

## Forward indicators

1. January 2020 public consumer notice (Kickstarter / PR) — out of this window.
2. Whether AWS actually stays up through 30 September 2020.
3. 1:19-cv-12125 post-PI posture.
4. EN 50636 A2:2020 publication — January 2020, out of window.
5. First 2020 official consumer-robot recall (none in 2019).

> **Collection integrity.** One signal. **DDL 2019 primary URL:** [The Robot Report, 27 December 2019](https://www.therobotreport.com/anki-assets-acquired-by-digital-dream-labs/). **Killed:** January 2020 PR/Kickstarter as December Fact; Anki April mass brick; court anti-brick ruling; named mower fatality; Roomba CPSC recall; 2020 Dexter 20-115; 2020 Clean Base / Health Canada RA-74597; Amazon Astro; Pertisau as 2019. **2019 official in-class recall IDs, full year: NIL.** No December CPSC / Health Canada / OPSS / Safety Gate in-class page. Forum empty.

*LRRK — security assurance for systems that sense, move, and act.*

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