Teenage Engineering’s R robot speaker could be its craziest release yet

Teenage Engineering’s product development strategy has always been a little unconventional, and its latest wheeze is a case in point. You could decribe R as a desktop speaker, but there’s rather more to it than that.

TE says that R is “the world’s first emotional 6-axis life form,” but that probably doesn’t clear things up for you. You might prefer to think of it as a ‘dancing robot speaker’ - it’s loaded with sensors and microphones, and uses artificial intelligence technology to react to a conversation.

We’re also told that R is capable of expressing feelings and emotions - which probably can’t be said of your current speakers - and there’s the intriguing promise of compatibility with Teenage Engineering’s forthcoming OP-Z instrument. There’s no word on a price or release date, but we’re guessing that R won’t come cheap.

Find out more on the Teenage Engineering website.