iPresence launches kubi 2.0 telepresence robot, opens global Kickstarter campaign
The AMW Read
Incremental second-generation hardware relaunch and crowdfunding presale from an already-established niche telepresence robotics venture, framed around AI-agent embodiment but lacking funding or scale signals that would raise significance.
iPresence launches kubi 2.0 telepresence robot, opens global Kickstarter campaign
iPresence, a Kobe, Japan-based robotics venture founded in 2014, is opening international Kickstarter presales for kubi 2.0 on September 18, 2026, its first direct global crowdfunding push. The desktop telepresence robot licenses manufacturing rights from former US maker Xandex and redesigns the original kubi, sold domestically since 2015, with a magnetic tablet mount, a lower center of gravity, quieter operation, and USB-C power. It offers 300 degrees of horizontal rotation and 55 degrees of tilt so a remote user can look around and face whoever they're speaking with, aimed at classrooms, hospitals, offices, and meetings, plus a donation tier that ships units directly to schools and hospitals. General retail sale begins October 15, 2026.
iPresence is positioning kubi 2.0 as more than a video-call stand: it plans a face-tracking application for automated reception and guidance, and an API that lets outside AI agent developers control the robot's movement from their own applications. That reframes a decade-old telepresence hardware category around giving AI agents a physical presence, rather than confining them to chat windows or screens, echoing a broader push among robotics ventures toward embodiment beyond humanoid form factors.
For builders, the exposed control API turns kubi 2.0 into a low-cost embodiment layer that agent developers can attach to existing reception, healthcare, or remote-education workflows without building hardware themselves. For investors, funding a second-generation product through presales rather than a venture round signals a capital path other small physical-AI hardware makers may lean on as humanoid and mobile-robotics competitors raise the cost of entry.