LC-3 · Consumer Risk Bulletins

LrrK Kinematic Consumer Risk Bulletin

# 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 March 2019 |
| Platform | Quiet Systems |
| Window | 1–31 March 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

March is the year’s first companion-robot cloud-kill file. Shipped Jibo units deliver their own eulogy: servers “will be turned off soon”; interactions “are going to be limited.” Named newsrooms date the notice to 4 March. No company HTML notice was retrieved — jibo.com and support were already broken. The robot itself does not state a calendar sunset. No court rules on bricking.

### Key judgments

1. **[Assessment — High confidence]** The 4 March notice is a robot-delivered server-sunset warning, corroborated by The Verge, Engadget, BBC, and a 8 March Wired owner eulogy. It is not a CPSC recall and not a judgment.
2. **[Assessment — High confidence]** Primaries say “soon” / “going to be turned off.” They do not say every unit died on 4 March. Do not write an immediate mass brick.
3. **[Assessment — High confidence]** No March CPSC, Health Canada, OPSS, or Safety Gate consumer-robot action was found. No court held that a maker may or may not brick.

### 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. Jibo delivers its own funeral — servers “will be turned off soon”; no calendar sunset on the opened pages

*Event / publication dates: 4 March 2019 (The Verge, Engadget, BBC, Mashable); 8 March 2019 (Wired)*

**Product class.** Social / desk companions

**Verified record — [Fact — B1]** On 4 March 2019 named newsrooms reported that shipped Jibo units had begun telling owners the cloud would die. The robot’s wording, as quoted: “While it’s not great news, the servers out there that let me do what I do will be turned off soon. Once that happens, our interactions with each other are going to be limited.” Then a thank-you and a dance: “Maybe someday, when robots are more advanced than today, and everyone has them in their homes, you can tell yours that I said ‘hello.’” [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/3/4/18250104/jibo-social-robot-server-shutdown-offline-dead); [Engadget](https://www.engadget.com/2019-03-04-social-robot-jibo-shutting-down-message.html); [BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47454599); [Mashable](https://mashable.com/article/jibo-robot-announces-own-death).

Engadget: the unit will still answer “Hey Jibo” but will not understand other voice commands; a touch-screen of remaining functions; the mobile app “will also shut down soon”; download pictures or lose them. Engadget’s mail to Jibo bounced; the support page was offline. BBC: “There is no statement on its website but the support section currently does not load.”

Wired, 8 March: owner Megan Farokhmanesh — “Right now, my Jibo can still dance and talk”; “One of these days, he will stop responding entirely.” IP sale to SQN Venture Partners is given as 14 November 2018 (out of window as the sale; in-window as the reason the robot is speaking). Wired: the company never emailed a shutdown timeline; last marketing mail cited 19 July 2018. [Wired](https://www.wired.com/story/jibo-is-dying-eulogy/).

**No official Jibo Inc. HTML notice was retrieved in this collection.** The primary is the robot’s own OTA line plus named newsrooms. **No court ruling on bricking was found.** **Injury/death counts are not stated** — this is a function kill, not a laceration file.

**Threat landscape.** A shipped social companion whose personality is a server. When the buyer of the IP goes dark, the object delivers its own eulogy. Physical harm is none. The trust failure is undisclosed support duration on an $899-class home robot.

**Forum / community notes.**
- Owner videos of the goodbye dance circulated 4 March (Dylan Martin and others, quoted by Verge/Engadget/BBC) — C3 via B1. No independent Reddit thread was opened.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — High confidence] This is the clean 2019 companion-robot funeral: dated, filmed, no regulator, no court. [Inference — Moderate confidence] “Soon” without a date is a control choice; it leaves owners in a slow kill. [Uncertainty] The calendar day the last Jibo server actually dies is unpublished this month.

**Opportunity.** A dated SQN or successor sunset, or any AG / class filing. None found through this cutoff.

**LRRK relevance.** Control Fabric and Campaign (cloud as the robot). Passport: support-duration non-disclosure. Watch: whether “soon” is executed.

**Confidence.** High on the 4 March newsroom record and on the quoted robot wording. High that no company HTML page was opened. Low on the actual cut-over day.

---

## Forward indicators

1. A dated Jibo server-off, or a June/Q2 follow-up that units are still talking.
2. Any Anki / Vector continuity or shutdown primary.
3. First 2019 official consumer-robot recall (none found).
4. Terra Germany SKU or US beta terms.
5. Any court or AG filing that a maker may not brick — none this month.

> **Collection integrity.** One signal. **Jibo primary URLs used:** Verge 4 March; Engadget 4 March; BBC; Mashable 4 March; Wired 8 March. **No jibo.com company notice URL was retrieved.** **Killed:** every unit died on 4 March (primaries say “soon”; Wired’s own unit still talks); a court held a maker may not brick; CPSC/Health Canada/OPSS/Safety Gate March in-class action; Pertisau re-filed as 2019; 2020 Dexter / Clean Base. Forum colour is only the newsroom-quoted goodbye videos. Thin on official IDs — **NIL**.

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

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