“史上最佳机器人初创公司”能一炮打响吗

    今年6月，当蒂姆•库克在苹果开发者大会（AppleWorldwide Developer's Conference）的展台上介绍Anki首席执行官鲍里斯•索夫曼时，不少人都好奇索夫曼是何许人也。一个甚至还没有上市、默默无闻的初创公司凭什么就能在最令人期待的技术盛会之一中占据显要的位置。索夫曼的解释很简单：“我们真正用全新的方式利用了现有的设备，苹果对此十分激动。”

    激动的并不只是苹果公司的领袖们。风险投资家马克•安德森称，Anki是他所见过的“史上最优秀的机器人初创公司”。迪士尼（Disney）前董事长和公司顾问迈克尔•奥维茨表现出了同样的热情。最近他对《财富》杂志表示：“从他们的演示中，我看见了未来的蓝图。”

    现在，索夫曼和共同创始人汉斯•塔普尼尔和马克•普拉图西必须证明，他们的产品当得起这些赞美，更重要的是，他们还要证明自己值得从风投公司指数创投（Index Ventures）、,安德森-霍洛维茨基金（Andreessen Horowitz）和Two Sigma Ventures拉到的那5,000万美元投资。Anki的第一款产品是一款名为Anki Drive的赛车游戏，将于10月23日在美国的Apple Stores、Apple.com和Anki.com上架。售价199美元的标准游戏套件中包含大型赛车跑道，两辆玩具大小的汽车和充电器。（买家还能以每辆69美元的价格买到两种额外的车型。）对应的手机应用可以在装有iOS系统的设备上使用，包括iPhone 4S及更高型号的手机。

    它的运行模式是：它推出一款手机应用，采用了Anki研制的独特且非常复杂的人工智能，赋予了玩具汽车虚拟生命。每辆汽车都装有发射和接收数据的光学传感器。汽车设计师是哈拉尔德•贝尔克，他的一些创造还曾出现在《少数派报告》（Minority Report）这些电影中。这些汽车可以自动在拐角处转弯，在竞速中还能改变比赛策略——索夫曼在今年早些时候苹果的开发者大会上演示了这个特性。汽车充满电需要7-8分钟，然后就能一口气跑上25分钟。

    不过Anki Drive的人工智能创造了非常易于上手的体验，无论玩家是5岁还是35岁，是脾气暴躁的玩家还是笨拙的新手。（借助这个特色，玩家很少会偏离轨道，除非他们被对手的车撞出去。）使用Anki Drive应用的控制方式被简化为加速和减速、左转和右转。玩家还能按下他们汽车的特殊武器：让前面的车减速的牵引光束，耗尽对手能量的轨道炮等等。每辆车都各有千秋——有的可能更敏捷，还有的速度更快。玩家每场比赛都可以赢得免费的虚拟积分，并在游戏中给这些特性升级。

    我是传统赛车游戏比如《山脊赛车》（Ridge Racer）、《GT赛车》（Gran Turismo）、甚至《顶尖车手》（Pole Position）的老玩家，自认是个赛车迷，尽管我需要一些时间才能掌握游戏的窍门。而正如索夫曼和塔普尼尔在游戏教学中保证的那样，我花了不到两分钟就上手了Anki Drive。左转右转，在比赛中跑圈（塔普尼尔所说的），这一切似乎都无比简单。不过当索夫曼加了一台电脑控制的专家级汽车之后，它便一再地紧跟然后超过我。我意识到，对于想要彻底精通游戏的人而言，Anki Drive的易于上手后面隐藏了极为陡峭的学习曲线。

    When Tim Cook introduced Anki CEO Boris Sofman onstage at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference this June, more than a few audience members wondered who Sofman was and how an unknown startup -- one that hadn't launched -- snagged a primo slot at one of the most anticipated tech events. "Apple was excited with the fact that we were using those devices in a new way, really," Sofman puts simply.

    The folks over at Cupertino aren't alone. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has called Anki the "best robotics startup" he's ever seen. Former Disney president and company adviser Michael Ovitz was equally enthusiastic. "When they showed it to me, I could see what the future could be," Ovitz told Fortune recently.

    Now, Sofman, along with co-founders HannsTappeiner and Mark Palatucci, must prove their product is worth the buzz, let alone the $50 million in venture-backed funding it has received from Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Two Sigma Ventures. Anki's first product, a racing game called Anki Drive, goes on sale in U.S. Apple (AAPL) stores, Apple.com, and Anki.com starting October 23. For $199, the standard base kit will come with a large race track, two toy-sized cars, and chargers. (Two more car types will be available for $69 each.) A companion mobile app will run on iOS devices, including the iPhone 4S and above.

    Here's how it works: The mobile app uses unique, highly sophisticated artificial intelligence developed by Anki to breathe virtual life into the toy cars, each of which contains an optical sensor to send and receive data. Designed by HaraldBelker, whose creations have appeared in films such as Minority Report, these cars can automatically weave round corners and change competitive racing strategies on the fly -- features Sofman first demoed at Apple's conference earlier this year. Cars take 7-8 minutes to fully charge; a full charge offers 25 minutes of non-stop racing.

    But with Anki Drive, the A.I. creates a very accessible experience, whether the player is five- or 35-years-old, a grizzled gamer or a clumsy novice. (Because of it, players will rarely ever veer off course, unless they've been taken out by a competing car.) Steering controls, by way of the Anki Drive app, are boiled down to accelerating and decelerating, and steering left and right. Players can also tap into their car's special weapon: a tractor beam that slows down the car ahead, a rail gun to deplete the opponent's energy, among others. Each car also has defining characteristics -- one may be more agile, another faster -- which can be upgraded throughout the game with free virtual points players accrue with every race.

    As a lifelong gamer raised on traditional racing titles like Ridge Racer, Gran Turismo, even Pole Position, I've always thought of myself as a racing aficionado, albeit one who needed time to get the hang of gameplay. Anki Drive, performed as Sofman and Tappeiner promised in that learning how to get around the track took less than two minutes. Swerving left to right, reeling in the competition (in this case, Tappeiner), all seemed incredibly easy. But when Sofman dropped in an A.I.-controlled car programmed at an expert setting and it repeatedly tailgated me and shot me down, I realized that Anki Drive's easy access belies a potentially steep learning curve for players who care to master the game.