Earlier today we released a review for Chobits and in that review we said that it's been roughly 15 years since and we still don't have our personal android companions. It's true that the best we've got are robots found in labs and 2016 seems to be the year that AI will begin to make groundbreaking discoveries. Additionally with the rise in minimum wage in the US, large corporations are investing millions into developing robots that can tend to your every need from stocking food in shelves to serving the perfect customized burger. However, that technology is at least 5-years away from hitting your nearby Wendy's or Walmart and bipedal robots are slow and not mobile like humans, in fact they cost over a million dollar each for human-size androids.Perhaps the next best thing are holograms. I've been touting holograms and augmented reality to be the next step in personal assistants for about 10 years now and here we are with various augmented reality devices such as Google Glass, Smartphones, Microsoft Hololens and more... Yet, with all of those releasing, what other type of holographic displays are on the market? Well, not many. There are SOME but it's mostly all in R&D and those that are available for purchase are expensive and meant for Medicine and high-tech conference rooms.Let's downscale to an affordable holographic assistant, one that anyone who can afford a TV can buy. Meet Gatebox. It is merely a concept with big ambitions to bring a holographic display in your own home. Not only will it display a 3D display without the need for glasses but it also utilizes various sensors to recognize you and listen to your commands.Let's face it, Siri, Cortana and "OK Google" all suck. They have terrible AI and they are not personalized. They do not learn from your habits, they don't share a conversation, and they don't grow with the things you teach it. Moreover, you can't really teach them to greet you properly. Gatebox is expected to be that one-size-fits-all AI/Hardware that becomes your own personal assistant. A kid can create a better AI (I know because I did that before) but the one benefit to Siri and the rest is that they understand verbal language very well these days, they just don't do anything useful.This is Japan and there is some oddities that come with this project. Apparently the artist who's drawing some of the default characters that come with it is a former Love Plus designer which is a dating sim. More than likely this project will open up to many possibilities from being able to have your own personal assistant keeping you on track with the latest happenings to dating sims and used as a holographic console for games and other projects. The sky is the limit, just having an "assistant in a box" is clearly just the beginning. What do you japplengers think? I'm interested in this project and would love to see how it develops. Personal Assistants driven by a smart AI is coming, open source projects are growing and all we need is a proper platform. Augmented reality and holographic displays are going to make this possible and perhaps we won't need to buy expensive equipment for robots if we can all be connected to the "other world of AR".

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