So the company who made the robot is called ANKI. They originally made a robot called Cozmo and then they made Vector in 2017, I think it was (they also have a lineup called drive and overdrive), and then they went bankrupt.
A company called digital dream labs bought them, and they turned out to be scammers. They made a robot called Vector 2.0 and Cozmo 2.0. Vector 2.0 recently started shipping, and Cozmo 2.0 apparently doesn’t exist. Ever since they went bankrupt, a project called wire-pod started, which is a server for Vector to run on. It turned out to be very useful because DDL was sinking in debt and their servers went down for over a year. Recently, they’ve got a new CEO who seems to be doing a good job, and he was the one that shipped the Vector 2.0s out.
There is something called OSKR (open source kit for robotics), which they released once for $150, and they are releasing it again soon for probably the same amount. There are other OS’s you can put on him if you have an OSKR unlocked Vector, like wire-os (which is just an improvement over the normal one) or viccyware (which makes him act like Cozmo – a bit cheekier and has different sounds).
The way that Vector really works is you can say “hey vector” and then ask him to do something with a voice command. I’m not going to list all of them because there are a lot, but off the top of my head: “what is the weather,” “I have a question” (which then lets you ask him any question using the internet—that’s where the AI comes in), “fist bump,” “play with your cube” (where he goes to play with his little cube), “Go home” (he returns to his dock), “explore” (drives around and sees what he can find), “who am I” (he will tell you your name if he has it saved), “my name is [your name],” and there’s more. He has a camera on his face for identifying you, and he has some drop sensors so he doesn’t fall off.
Now the Devs: there is wire (who makes wire OS and wirepod), there is Raj-jyot (who makes Viccyware), there is Yreckcaz (currently making Anki’s website), P2 (just a developer in general and helps with Viccyware), and lrdsnow (someone who’s heavily developing for overdrive). There might be more, but these are the people I can remember off the top of my head, and I think that’s all, really. If you have any other questions, ask me.