Latest news with #Norby
Techday NZ
5 hours ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
How Norby the language robot is more than just a companion
Norby, an AI-powered language companion, highlights the exciting evolution of language learning through interactive and adaptive technology. Adrian Mullan, Founder and CEO of Norby, led the demonstration at Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, highlighting the robot's ability to engage in natural conversations across multiple languages and contexts. Norby supports more than 30 languages, with new additions and updates rolled out through over-the-air software updates. Mullan said his motivation for developing Norby was rooted in his own experiences. "A few years ago, while helping my daughter with her homework, I noticed something troubling - she was bored and struggling to stay focused. Conventional learning materials simply couldn't hold her attention. That realization sparked the idea for Norby," he explained. Norby is designed to be more than just another digital assistant or educational tool. "Humans have an innate desire to connect, even with the things we create. We give objects human-like traits, attribute emotions to our pets, and name our digital assistants - it's part of who we are," Mullan said. "I didn't want another device that demanded my attention. I wanted a companion - something that helps me stay focused, in flow, and truly engaged. A companion that adapts to my personality, interests, and goals." During the demonstration, Mullan illustrated Norby's capabilities by asking it to greet the audience in various languages and accents, as well as to generate stories on demand. "Hey, Norby, can you do me a favour? Can you say hello to the journalists in the room?" Mullan asked. Norby responded with, "Hello everyone. I'd be happy to extend a greeting to the journalists present. I'm sure, Adrian, you'd like me to make a good impression, so I'll make sure to be as charismatic as possible on various projects, including sound checks and helping with your work on interactive voice companions." The device's multilingual proficiency is underpinned by a flexible architecture that allows Norby to select the best available models for different languages. Mullan explained, "We plug into a bunch of different providers for the speech recognition as well as the large language model inference, and effectively what we do is we built an architecture where we can send the responses to the best model at the time." "So an example would be OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, all the big US providers will be great when it comes to English, Latin based languages and so on, but they'll tend to struggle with Asian character sets, so Chinese, Japanese, Korean and so on. In that case, we can spin it off to the DeepSeek, or to Qwen , or whoever, the best provider is," he said. The hardware is intentionally designed to be approachable and engaging, resembling a character rather than a device, and is equipped with high-performance processing, a full-colour HD touchscreen, high-quality speakers, and expressive RGB LED lighting. Norby's software supports a variety of large language models and is continually enhanced through regular updates. Norby's applications go beyond language learning. "Our problem at the moment is we have more requests from people than we can sort of deal with. I would say language and speech therapy is a really big one on the consumer side. The next area that we're moving into is much more the agentic productivity side," Mullan said. He described using Norby at home to manage daily tasks: "My Norby unit at home actually does things. I checks my email. It'll summarise my emails. I can ask Norby, okay, what's important for the day. And then what it'll do is, it's connected to my inbox, but also to my LinkedIn, to my social feeds, to my calendar. It'll take all of that stuff, create a summarisation." Addressing the broader technology landscape, Mullan compared Norby's form factor with other AI devices. "If you have something that's like projecting onto your hand, like, what happens when you walk out in daylight, right? So I think that's in their case, a big problem." "In the case of rabbit, I think they're doing some interesting stuff. Again, though my issue is, is that I think the moment you make a device that's very similar to a phoney form factor, you're effectively competing with the phone. And then in order to be able to move forward, what happens is, your expectation is that people have to carry this device and also carry the phone." "So we've made a deliberate decision not to do that. We've gone after a form factor that's a bit more anthropomorphised," he explained. Norby's adaptability is reflected in its ability to switch between personalities and modes depending on user needs. Parents, for example, can select predefined personas for their children, and the robot adapts its lessons to maintain engagement. "As the kids interact with Norby, it will course correct. So an example would be, okay, any kid that's learning a language, one of the challenges is engagement, right? Because they find it hard and boring. If it knows that, okay, there's an eight year old boy named Billy who's really into Roblox and Spider Man, it will then start to recreate those lessons in that context," Mullan said. Discussing privacy and security, Mullan stressed, "We take privacy and security seriously. Norby has been designed to be COPPA compliant. Our closed-system architecture means no access to third-party app stores or social media." Looking ahead, Mullan outlined the expansion of Norby's functionality, including the introduction of features such as singing, laughing, and emotional intelligence analysis. "There's a version that we're working on now that will sing, laugh, cry, whisper, yeah. I've had a chance to interact with that one. It's not production-ready yet, but it will happen," he said. "We're thrilled to be at this stage, and we're excited about the potential for Norby to make a difference in people's lives."
Techday NZ
8 hours ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
How Norby the language robot is more than just a compaion
Norby, an AI-powered language companion, highlights the exciting evolution of language learning through interactive and adaptive technology. Adrian Mullan, Founder and CEO of Norby, led the demonstration at Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, highlighting the robot's ability to engage in natural conversations across multiple languages and contexts. Norby supports more than 30 languages, with new additions and updates rolled out through over-the-air software updates. Mullan said his motivation for developing Norby was rooted in his own experiences. "A few years ago, while helping my daughter with her homework, I noticed something troubling - she was bored and struggling to stay focused. Conventional learning materials simply couldn't hold her attention. That realization sparked the idea for Norby," he explained. Norby is designed to be more than just another digital assistant or educational tool. "Humans have an innate desire to connect, even with the things we create. We give objects human-like traits, attribute emotions to our pets, and name our digital assistants - it's part of who we are," Mullan said. "I didn't want another device that demanded my attention. I wanted a companion - something that helps me stay focused, in flow, and truly engaged. A companion that adapts to my personality, interests, and goals." During the demonstration, Mullan illustrated Norby's capabilities by asking it to greet the audience in various languages and accents, as well as to generate stories on demand. "Hey, Norby, can you do me a favour? Can you say hello to the journalists in the room?" Mullan asked. Norby responded with, "Hello everyone. I'd be happy to extend a greeting to the journalists present. I'm sure, Adrian, you'd like me to make a good impression, so I'll make sure to be as charismatic as possible on various projects, including sound checks and helping with your work on interactive voice companions." The device's multilingual proficiency is underpinned by a flexible architecture that allows Norby to select the best available models for different languages. Mullan explained, "We plug into a bunch of different providers for the speech recognition as well as the large language model inference, and effectively what we do is we built an architecture where we can send the responses to the best model at the time." "So an example would be OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, all the big US providers will be great when it comes to English, Latin based languages and so on, but they'll tend to struggle with Asian character sets, so Chinese, Japanese, Korean and so on. In that case, we can spin it off to the DeepSeek, or to Qwen , or whoever, the best provider is," he said. The hardware is intentionally designed to be approachable and engaging, resembling a character rather than a device, and is equipped with high-performance processing, a full-colour HD touchscreen, high-quality speakers, and expressive RGB LED lighting. Norby's software supports a variety of large language models and is continually enhanced through regular updates. Norby's applications go beyond language learning. "Our problem at the moment is we have more requests from people than we can sort of deal with. I would say language and speech therapy is a really big one on the consumer side. The next area that we're moving into is much more the agentic productivity side," Mullan said. He described using Norby at home to manage daily tasks: "My Norby unit at home actually does things. I checks my email. It'll summarise my emails. I can ask Norby, okay, what's important for the day. And then what it'll do is, it's connected to my inbox, but also to my LinkedIn, to my social feeds, to my calendar. It'll take all of that stuff, create a summarisation." Addressing the broader technology landscape, Mullan compared Norby's form factor with other AI devices. "If you have something that's like projecting onto your hand, like, what happens when you walk out in daylight, right? So I think that's in their case, a big problem." "In the case of rabbit, I think they're doing some interesting stuff. Again, though my issue is, is that I think the moment you make a device that's very similar to a phoney form factor, you're effectively competing with the phone. And then in order to be able to move forward, what happens is, your expectation is that people have to carry this device and also carry the phone." "So we've made a deliberate decision not to do that. We've gone after a form factor that's a bit more anthropomorphised," he explained. Norby's adaptability is reflected in its ability to switch between personalities and modes depending on user needs. Parents, for example, can select predefined personas for their children, and the robot adapts its lessons to maintain engagement. "As the kids interact with Norby, it will course correct. So an example would be, okay, any kid that's learning a language, one of the challenges is engagement, right? Because they find it hard and boring. If it knows that, okay, there's an eight year old boy named Billy who's really into Roblox and Spider Man, it will then start to recreate those lessons in that context," Mullan said. Discussing privacy and security, Mullan stressed, "We take privacy and security seriously. Norby has been designed to be COPPA compliant. Our closed-system architecture means no access to third-party app stores or social media." Looking ahead, Mullan outlined the expansion of Norby's functionality, including the introduction of features such as singing, laughing, and emotional intelligence analysis. "There's a version that we're working on now that will sing, laugh, cry, whisper, yeah. I've had a chance to interact with that one. It's not production-ready yet, but it will happen," he said. "We're thrilled to be at this stage, and we're excited about the potential for Norby to make a difference in people's lives."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
ECU beats Florida 11-6 in NCAA Opener
CONWAY, SC (WNCT) – Sophomore pitcher Ethan Norby gave up just 2 runs on 6 hits in 7.1 innings and the Pirate offense gave plenty of run support Friday afternoon as East Carolina took care of No. 17 Florida 11-6 to begin the NCAA Conway Regional inside Springs Brooks Stadium. The Pirates (34-25) gave the large East Carolina crowd a 15-hit performance while Norby (8-5) struck out 10 against no walks. He tossed a career-high 116 pitches while racking up double-digit strikeouts for the third time in his career. Freshman Austin Irby delivered his first career four-hit effort, falling just a triple short of the cycle, finishing the day 4-for-5 with three runs scored, three RBI, a double and a home run. East Carolina will now play the Fairfield-Coastal Carolina winner Saturday evening at 6 p.m. when the Pirates look to advance to a sixth consecutive regional final. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Sport
- Newsweek
Yankees Trade Idea Solves 3rd Base Problem With Former Orioles Top-10 Prospect
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The New York Yankees are rolling into June, riding a five-game winning streak — and nine wins in their last 10 — into Dodger Stadium for a three-game interleague set and rematch of last year's World Series against Los Angeles. But even as they enjoy a 6 1/2 game lead over the second place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East, the Bronx Bombers are not without problems that, without solutions, threaten to blow up their season. Among the biggest: what to do about third base. MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 04: Connor Norby #1 of the Miami Marlins walks to the dugout following the sixth inning against the Oakland Athletics at loanDepot park on May 04, 2025 in Miami, Florida. MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 04: Connor Norby #1 of the Miami Marlins walks to the dugout following the sixth inning against the Oakland Athletics at loanDepot park on May 04, 2025 in Miami, injuries to D.J. LeMahieu and Jazz Chisholm, the Yankees have been without a real third baseman all season. Neither of those players, actually, are natural third basemen, both more comfortable at second — though manager Aaron Boone has Chisholm slated to take over third when his current rehab assignment is complete. Just as Oswaldo Cabrera was settling in at the position, he suffered a horrific ankle injury on a play at the plate in Seattle earlier this month, ending his season. Various ideas to fill the hot corner slot at Yankee Stadium have been floated over the past months, but a new trade proposal by writer Jacob Mountz of Yardbarker could give the Yankees the most economical option yet, and one that could solve the defending AL champs' third base problem for the next six years at least. "Miami Marlins third baseman Connor Norby was the Orioles' No. 7 prospect as recently as last year. In his 2024 rookie campaign, Norby hit .236 with nine home runs in 176 at-bats for the O's and Marlins, displaying some promising power potential," Mountz wrote. More MLB: Yankees Trade Pitch Solves Third Base Problem in Deal for $24 Million Veteran He did not propose a return package for the Marlins third baseman, who was drafted by the Orioles out of East Carolina as a 2021 second-round pick, after he batted .415 with a 1.143 OPS and 15 home runs in 246 at-bats in his final season of college baseball. Norby was struck on the helmet by a pitch from San Diego Padres reliever Jason Adam on Wednesday. But surprisingly — perhaps because the pitch was a changeup — Norby remained in the game. Closer look at the Connor Norby hit by pitch. Got him on the side of the helmet. — Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) May 28, 2025 Norby was not only the Orioles' No. 7 prospect in 2024, when he was positioned as a second-baseman and outfielder, he was rated as a top-100 prospect in 2023 by both Baseball America (No. 93) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 82). In 2023, Norby put up a promotion-worthy season for the Norfolk Tides, the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate, with 21 home runs, a .290 batting average and .842 OPS. But rather than bump him up to the big leagues, the Orioles traded him. They sent Norby, along with another prospect, to the Marlins for lefty pitcher Trevor Rogers. "The Marlins, who once again sit at the bottom of the NL East, will undoubtedly be sellers at the trade deadline," Mountz wrote in his trade proposal. "As things stand, Norby would represent a vast improvement over the Yankees' existing (third base) options." So far this season, Norby has played 35 games for Miami with a .744 OPS and .276 vetting average with three round-trippers. In 263 innings at third base, the 24-year-old has committed three errors with a minus-1 defensive runs saved number. Norby is in his sophomore season on a one-year, $765,000 contract, barely over the MLB minimum. He is not eligible for arbitration until 2028, and remains under team control until 2031. More MLB: Yankees Aaron Boone 'Shuts Down' Slugger's Move to Third Base, Insider Says
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Irby's season-high 4 hits, Norby's strong outing carry ECU past Florida 11-6 in Conway Regional
CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Freshman Austin Irby had a season-high four hits, Ethan Norby matched the longest outing of his career with a strong 7 1/3 innings and East Carolina opened the Conway Regional with an 11-6 win over Florida on Friday. East Carolina (34-25) will play No. 13 national seed Coastal Carolina or Fairfield in a winner's game Saturday. The Gators (38-21) will play the loser in an elimination game. The Pirates tagged Florida ace Liam Peterson for four quick runs on their way to a 9-0 lead in their seventh straight regional. Irby doubled in a run in the fourth, hit his 10th homer in the sixth and singled in another run to make it 11-2 in the seventh. The Pirates, the No. 3 regional seed, knocked Peterson (8-4) out of the game with one out and the bases loaded in the second inning. Peterson gave up four runs, two earned, in his shortest outing of the season other than a seven-pitch start cut short because of a weather delay on May 2 at South Carolina. The Gators, in their 17th straight regional, broke through against Norby in the fourth with Brendan Lawson leading off with a homer and Blake Cyr connecting with two outs to make it 9-2. Norby (8-5) allowed six hits, struck out 10 and walked none. He threw a career-high 116 pitches before giving way to Jake Hunter, who gave up a three-run homer to Bobby Boser in the ninth. ___ AP college sports:
