Tecno unveils Dynamic 1, a robot dog powered by AI

Now this bodes well for us, Tecno is hard at work researching and developing artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Tecno, along with its sisters Infinix and especially Itel, are popular in Zimbabwe and most of Africa too.

See, at this point it cannot be disputed that AI is going to play a major role in the world going forward. The Samsung Galaxy S24 series gave us a glimpse of what AI in smartphones could look like. So, it is refreshing to see Tecno taking AI seriously.

At the ongoing Mobile World Congress, Tecno unveiled the Dynamic 1, a robot dog that mimics real dogs.

This AI-powered dog can move like a real dog, climb stairs, bow and even shake hands. Tecno says it was inspired by the German Shepherd. However, the robodog can only sprint at 13.4 km/hr whilst the real Shepherd can hit speeds of up to 48.3 km/hr.

Powering the dog is an unspecified Arm CPU and AI facilitates its processing.

You can interact with the robodog using voice commands or an app. You tell it to bow and it bows, unlike your untrained hard-Mashona Danger.

The Dynamic 1 has four microphones to ensure it hears your commands and it also has Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity to allow for commands via the app.

The robodog processes your voice commands using an ‘advanced AI-powered voice recognition system.’ That’s all we know about the AI in this thing at the moment.

For navigation, the robodog relies on a boatload of sensors and cameras. It even has a headlight so it can still entertain you in low-light conditions.

You can play around with the Dynamic 1 for about 90 minutes until you need to charge its 15000mAh battery. Tecno allows you to swap out the battery and insert a fully charged one, so you don’t have to wait while it charges.

Tecno did not say if the robodog will ever go on sale or whether it’s just a test device they can hone their AI and robotics skills on.

Whatever the case, it’s exciting to see the Dynamic 1. One hopes whatever they learnt developing this product will trickle down to the Tecno smartphones we love in these parts of the world.

I hope the robodog goes on sale though, imagine having these bad boys patrol your premises. I would find a way to add spikes and razors to its body and no robber would dare jump my wall.

Also read:

• Transsion (Itel, Tecno and Infinix) on course to be 4th biggest smartphone vendor this year
• UK-based Zimbabwean inventor develops robot helper ‘Milton’ for the NHS and it’s a penguin
• Samsung Galaxy S24 series – the bar has been set, albeit in a recycled design