One of the most iconic gadgets to launch this year is without a doubt the bright orange Rabbit R1, and if you were one of the fortunate few who managed to order one before the initial batch sold out, yours should be arriving shortly. The first shipment of US pre-orders is scheduled for March 31 (Easter Sunday), according to Rabbit. However, it will take a few weeks for the gadgets to reach their final locations. The first R1 orders are expected to be delivered to clients “around April 24,” according to the company.
Rabbit is also hosting a pickup party in New York City on April 23 that it says is open to all buyers, not just batch one. It plans to release more information on the party and the first deliveries next week.
The company’s Rabbit R1 demo, which came in parallel to CES, sparked a lot of hype and a lot more questions about the purpose of dedicated AI hardware in the era of smartphones. It’s positioned as a more useful AI assistant that can go with you anywhere, powered in large part by San Francisco startup Perplexity’s LLM. Co-designed by Teenage Engineering, the Rabbit R1 features a physical scroll wheel and a rotating camera, plus an adorable animated bunny that serves as its mascot.
The company started taking pre-orders for the $199 Rabbit R1 back in January, and the first several batches of 10,000 devices each sold out fast. While batch one starts shipping soon, buyers who got in later will still have to wait several months for theirs to arrive. Pre-orders are currently open for batch seven.
