Your MiniMe, explained in five minutes
No need to read it all: you talk, it does. Here is what happens the first time, the gestures it understands, the sentences to say and what to do if something is off.
This page only lists what the robot really does today. New versions arrive on their own, over the Internet.
The first start
Plug it in with its USB-C cable. ORAVIO appears, then the eyes open. From there the robot takes one of these three paths on its own.
It already knows your Wi-Fi
If you left us your home network name and password before shipping, it connects by itself and greets you. Nothing to do.
Leave the Wi-Fi for the robotIt shows "Connect me to Wi-Fi"
Scan the QR on the screen with your phone: it joins the robot and the page to pick your network and type the password opens by itself. If it does not open, type 192.168.4.1 in the browser. Then the robot restarts and comes back with its face.
It shows a six-digit code
It means it does not know whose it is yet. Scan the QR next to the code (it also reads the digits out loud): sign in with your Oravio account and the robot is yours. Or type the code in the MiniMe panel in Oravio.
Open the page to connect itThe first time, under the face, you read "Touch me and talk to me, or say Hey Oravio". That really is all you need to get started.
Talking to it
Say "Hey Oravio" and wait a moment: when a thin breathing arc appears under the eyes, it is listening. Then ask calmly, as you would ask a person.
After the answer you have about ten seconds to keep going without saying "Hey Oravio" again. If nobody speaks, it goes back to rest and waits for the word.
Don't feel like calling it? Touch the screen: it listens right away. While it speaks, another touch stops it.
Say
"Hey Oravio… what time is it?"
"What is 12 times 12?"
"Remind me in ten minutes to drain the pasta"
What its face tells you
Blinking eyes
It is resting and waiting for you.
A breathing arc at the bottom
It is listening to you.
Eyes up and three dots
It is thinking. If it takes a while, it says "one moment" and keeps you posted.
A moving mouth
It is speaking. The words also appear in the speech bubble.
A small crossed-out Wi-Fi at the top
No Internet. It keeps trying on its own: you don't have to do anything.
A crossed-out speaker
You muted it with two taps on the head.
A steady red dot
It is keeping watch: you and anyone entering the room can see it.
Sleepy face
The room is dark: it also lowers its voice, and wakes up when the light comes back.
Gestures, menu and settings
The gestures it understands
- One touch on the screen — it listens. If it is speaking, it stops.
- A stroke on the head — it reacts. The head has three sensitive spots, and each gives a different reaction.
- Two quick taps on the head — silence. Two more taps and it speaks again.
- Finger held on the screen for one second — from any page you go back to the face. It also stops a game or the watch.
- Picking it up or leaving it tilted — lift it and it says "Hey!"; leave it tilted and it asks "Put me straight!".
The robot menu
From the face, slide your finger up starting from the bottom edge of the screen: a button appears for a few seconds, touch it. Every page has "Back" at the top left.
- Games: a line under each game tells you what it does.
- My rules: the things you taught it. Switch them on, off, try them.
- My screens: the pages Oravio prepared for you.
- Settings: everything else, below.
In Settings
- Volume and Brightness. With automatic brightness the screen follows the light in the room.
- Lingua / Language: Italian, English, French, German or Spanish for the robot menus. The chosen language reaches Oravio too.
- Time zone: leave "Automatic (Oravio)" and the time is right.
- Change Wi-Fi network: it forgets the network and shows you the QR again.
- Power saving: how long before it switches off when running on battery.
- Motion and startup: how much it moves at rest, from "off" to "a lot".
- Check for updates, and Forget the owner and restart (to give it away or sell it).
The games
With your fingers
Follow the finger, Tickle, Yes or no.
With lights and sounds
Lights to the beat, Timer, Count the claps.
With its eyes
Who's there?, What is this?, Smile shot, Guardian, Look at me.
Handy
What time is it, Battery level, Compass, Remote control, Badge.
One touch starts the game on the face; to stop, hold the screen. By voice, just ask.
"Let's play follow the finger"
What it can do, and how to ask
Ask the robot out loud, or write to Oravio from your phone or computer: same Oravio, same robot.
It answers
Questions, sums, advice, the weather: it is Oravio, with its voice.
"What's the weather in London tomorrow?"
Reminders
At the right time, it tells you.
"Remind me in twenty minutes to call mum"
It looks
It takes a photo and tells you what it sees. You also find the photo in the panel, for ten minutes.
"What do you see?"
Lights
Twelve coloured lights, steady or with effects.
"Turn the lights blue" · "Rainbow lights"
Head and dancing
It turns its head, looks up, dances.
"Turn your head to the right" · "Dance for ten seconds"
Expressions
Happy, surprised, sleepy, thoughtful and more.
"Make a surprised face"
Volume and screen
By voice too, without opening the menu.
"Set the volume to 30"
Badges and cards
In the Games menu open Badge and hold a card or NFC sticker close: from there it can become a gesture, like "when I hold this badge close, greet me".
"Which badges has the MiniMe seen?"
Remote control
In the Games menu open Remote control and teach it up to eight buttons of your TV, air conditioner or lights: then it presses them for you.
"Press button 1 of the remote"
It keeps watch
If something changes in the room it alerts you on your phone, and on Telegram if you connected it. Switch it off by voice or by holding the screen.
"Keep watch until I'm back"
It follows you
It turns its head towards whoever moves in front of it. No image leaves the robot.
"Follow me with your eyes"
It updates itself
New versions arrive over the Internet: it checks when it starts, or from Settings → Check for updates, or with the "Update" button in the panel.
"Update the MiniMe"
Teaching it new things
The MiniMe does not stay the way it came out of the box: you teach it new things in words, and only your robot changes, not anyone else's.
Its rules: "when… do…"
A rule says what to do when something happens: a touch, a time, darkness, a badge, a remote button, "Hey Oravio", low battery, or an important email Oravio sees for you. It runs them even without Internet, and you find them in the My rules menu.
"When I touch the MiniMe's head in the evening, say goodnight and turn off the lights"
Its screens
Up to eight pages of your own on the robot: weather, appointments, your shop's numbers, with buttons that do something. Oravio prepares them and keeps them updated; open them from the My screens menu.
"Make me a screen on the robot with the weather and my next appointment"
From wherever you are
Ask the robot out loud, or ask Oravio from any door: it is always the same Oravio, and the MiniMe panel is everywhere.
From Telegram, when you are out: "Make the MiniMe say hello"
Home, network and handing it over
Changing network or moving it to another home
Settings → Change Wi-Fi network → confirm. It forgets the old network and shows you the QR for the new one. It stays yours, with its rules and its screens.
More people at home
Ask Oravio for an invitation: a link valid for 48 hours, for one person. Whoever opens it signs in with their own account and uses the robot from their phone and chat. Updates, watch and invitations stay with you. Up to eight people.
"Create a MiniMe invitation to send to my sister"
More robots
Up to five MiniMe on the same account: when you ask for something, call them by name.
Giving it away or selling it
Settings → Forget the owner and restart, then "Yes, restart". The robot forgets account, network and settings and starts like new; it disappears from your panel and from the panels of the people you live with. Whoever receives it connects it with the code.
Removing it from your account remotely
In the MiniMe panel touch "Disconnect": it stops answering you until you connect it again with a new code.
If something is off
It is almost always one gesture away. Here they are, one case at a time.
It does not answer "Hey Oravio"
Speak from about one metre, in a normal voice and without the TV loud, and wait for the breathing arc before the question. If it does not react, touch the screen: it listens right away, and the word stays ready for next time.
It says it has no network
Check that the router is on. The robot keeps trying on its own: no need to switch it off. If you changed network or password, Settings → Change Wi-Fi network.
It does not see my network
It only sees 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, like almost every smart device. If your router shows two names and one ends with "5G", pick the other one.
Sometimes it is slow or does not answer
Almost always the Wi-Fi is weak where it sits: the MiniMe panel tells you. Move it closer to the router. For long requests it says "one moment" and keeps you posted while it works.
It switched off
On battery it switches off by itself after a while without use (Settings → Power saving). Plug the cable in; if the screen stays black, press the button on the side, next to the USB-C port, once.
I am stuck on a page
Hold your finger on the screen for one second: you are back to the face.
I can't hear it
Maybe it is muted: two quick taps on the head. Or raise the volume, by voice or from Settings → Volume.
It is updating
It shows the download and installation, then restarts by itself: keep it plugged in. If the update fails, it says so and restarts.
Oravio says the robot is not connected
In the MiniMe panel you see when it was last heard from. Check power and Wi-Fi: as soon as it is back online it answers by itself. If it stays silent for many hours, you get a notification.
Privacy and safety, in short
- It only takes photos when you ask, when you play with its eyes or when it keeps watch. They stay at most ten minutes in the server memory and are never written to disk.
- When it keeps watch it tells you what changed without trying to recognise who people are; if you prefer, just the alert, with no description. The red dot tells anyone in the room.
- "Follow me" and "Look at me" work inside the robot: no image leaves it.
- The robot only talks to Oravio's servers and only accepts updates made for it and newer than the one it has.
- The voice and the answers are generated by artificial intelligence.