The 25 Best Inventions of 2017

Personal robots, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, have come a long way in recent years. But fundamentally, they're still stationary speakers whose defining expression is a light that turns on when you speak. It's not just that he--and I use the term he here, because that's how Jibo refers to himself--looks like something straight out of a Pixar movie, with a big, round head and a face that uses animated icons to convey emotion. It's not just that his body swivels and swerves while he speaks, as if he's talking with his nonexistent hands. It's not just that he can giggle and dance and turn to face you, wherever you are, as soon as you say, "Hey, Jibo."