SE X-Bot AI Head is now live — meet Annika🤖

Doll Manufacturers SE Doll
21

Thank you for your detailed feedback :blush: it’s really helpful.

Regarding your questions, the head can indeed move left and right, but it wasn’t shown in this video since the focus here was mainly on facial expressions.

You’re absolutely right — there are still areas we can improve. We’ll continue adding more demo content and also have some test units out, so you’ll likely see more real feedback from users soon.

As for your suggestions — head tilt, up & down eye movement, full eye closure, and a more natural visible smile — I’ve noted everything down. Thank you so much for the input :folded_hands:

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22

I believe I read that this version of the Annika head has 7 DoF? But it doesn’t state what those are.

Would I be correct with this guess?

  • 1: eyes, left and right together
  • 2,3: eye brows, independently raised and lowered
  • 4,5: eye lids, independently opened and (half) closed
  • 6: mouth, open and closed
  • 7: horizontal head movement

Thanks!

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23

Thanks for your thoughts! Just to clarify a few points :slightly_smiling_face:

We didn’t really promote any “advanced customization” — we only mentioned that there might be more heads in the future, not just Annika. Since this is the first version, we didn’t want to overpromise anything.

Yes, by “canceling customization” we mean things like skin tone and eye color. Custom orders take much longer, and involve more complex sourcing and QC, which makes it harder to keep the consistent quality we always aim for.

As for the eyelashes — they are painted on. Because the eyes are dynamic, implanted lashes would easily fall off. And the doll’s eyes are fixed, so they can’t be swapped out.

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24

Thanks for the heads-up! We’ll reach out to RosemaryDoll to remind them. :blush:

For all our customers, the subscription fee is clearly communicated before placing an order — we’ve mentioned it on forums, discord, and our website, so everyone knows about it in advance.

25

Thanks very much, for all these clarifications. They are really helpful to know… even if some are a bit disappointing. :sad_but_relieved_face:

This is what I had seen, and thought you were referring to on “customization”:

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Those are all more elaborate and complicated than simply letting people pick the color of eyes they want.

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26

Rosemary is also offering it, with

  • different skin colors,
  • eye colors, AND
  • implanted lashes and eyebrows!

So it looks like they didn’t get the memo. :laughing:

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27

These are all reasonable things to restrict, in a first version. As long as you realize it WILL also restrict your sales as well.

I would just like to make a couple helpful comments for consideration, that are not meant to be criticisms:

  • you could at least offer a Tan skin, as well as Natural. that would just be 2 SKUs
  • note that Irontech does this on their Sigafun series, with good results (few configs)
  • if the eyeballs can not physically be changed, you could consider changeable irises
  • these facial characteristics, along with the hair chosen, have a big impact on the personality. which is exactly what your focus is on!
  • implanting lashes may not be a good idea, but glued on lashes are NOT going to fall off
  • physical lashes are MUCH nicer than ones that are painted on. (I have some doll heads that I paid only $40 for, and even THEY have glued on lashes.)

Perhaps some of these observations will be of value. Painted on lashes may seem like a reasonable first response to you, but they convey a sense of “cheapness” to me. And you don’t want that on a $1500 head-only product. Just IMO.

28

Yes, that’s true — we wrote it from a more forward-looking perspective, so some parts might come across as a bit more complicated.:eyes:

29

A bit embarrassing :sweat_smile: We’ll make sure to remind them immediately!

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30

Thanks a lot for your feedback! :blush: Really appreciate it.

Just to recap, your points were:

  • Offering Tan skin as well as Natural

  • Changeable irises if eyes can’t be swapped

  • Face and hair affect personality a lot

  • Glued lashes look better than painted-on

Your ideas are very helpful, and we’ll keep them in mind for the future!

Thanks again! :folded_hands:

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31

I was thinking about buying one of these dude. Thanks for your review and information. 600 bucks a year, NOPE!

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32

I’m sorry to say it, but I think we have a problem here. IMO, it’s pretty important to be honest, and not oversell a product. This will always come back to bite you in the end.

I had been assuming that Annika DID have actual eyelashes, because in the back of my mind I thought I had remembered seeing them. You let us know those are actually painted on, and then confirmed it. So that has been established.

Then I went back and reviewed some of the pages you have set up for this product, and came across this:

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on this page:

launch of SE X-Bot AI Head - SEDOLL Brand Official site

where we see the claim that the face is “hyper-realistic”. Now I haven’t actually seen one, but I have seen videos. And while it looked quite good, I would not go so far as to claim it is THAT real… especially after you have told us the brows and lashes are painted on. Which is something that basically NO silicone heads do.

Then looking more closely, I see there ARE eyelashes: :astonished:

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Let’s zoom in:

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and brighten it a bit, to be sure:

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Yes, I was right. Those ARE eyelashes, BEHIND those fingers.

So I guess my question would be… are all your advertising videos AI-generated? Because they are definitely not of the actual head.

And in the intro video here, we see a face that is too good to be true:

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which is because it’s NOT true. Once again, AI-generated. And when she speaks here:

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her mouth and lower lips move in a way that the doll head simply can not. You can’t even see the teeth in the real head.

I really don’t understand why SE Doll would want to use generated images and videos that are better than the actual product? Because all that will do is make the actual product look worse by comparison? :thinking:

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E.g., when she speaks, her lips move only a tiny amount, and you can see the tongue inside vibrating. Not moving in any controlled fashion… vibrating. Now that’s fine, BUT… it’s nothing like what was shown when she spoke at the 5-8 second mark in the video.

–

Now my guess is you will feel I am being too picky, and it’s not realistic to have expectations too high. And I would agree 100%! I would not be mentioning one word of this… if it were not for your advertising videos, that are AI-generated. I.e, fake. Not real. And are depicting things the head does not have, and can not do. :confounded:

There are many doll companies now jumping on the AI bandwagon, to promote their products. With FAKE AI-generated images. Either because it’s the cool thing to do, is cheaper than paying professional photogs, or just because… it makes the dolls look more real, so more people will buy them. And I can tell you… WE HATE IT.

Please try and steer clear of that when advertising your new XBot product line. If you want to maintain any sort of credibility and trust.

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33

Thanks for your feedback.

We understand your concerns regarding the promotional materials and the final product presentation.

Our content is created to communicate the design intention and visual direction of the product. The actual product reflects that direction, but like any physical prototype, certain functional and visual details may vary depending on development constraints and iteration stages.

Annika is our first released version, and future iterations will continue to evolve as part of our ongoing product development.

We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

— SEDOLL

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34

Thanks for the clarification, and the explanation of your philosophy. :+1:

Different people (and different companies), have unique philosophies and style. In how they present and describe things. And that’s fine. Nothing wrong with that at all.

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But I will myself clarify the two concerns that I had. The first is:

  • as I look over the materials for a new, and ground-breaking product like Annika, I am quite anxious to see and learn everything I can. What can it do? What can it NOT do, etc? And so forth. I realize that some of the language in the descriptions may be a bit exuberant, BUT… I do not expect to actually SEE things shown, that are simply not there.
  • that is what happened with the lashes. I DID see them, as I had recalled. But they do not exist!
  • when THAT happens, it then calls into question EVERYTHING I studied, and thought I knew. So really, I don’t actually know anything! :slightly_frowning_face: I simply have an ‘impression’, or a vibe.
  • for ME (though perhaps not others), that is a BIG impediment to making a purchase.

And I wanted to be clear, that I would really like to see this product series succeed! So it can grow larger (more face styles), and mature into more sophisticated products (more DoF, for example). I am not trying to tear it down. That wouldn’t be productive, nor would it be helpful.

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The other concern that I had was that a LOT of verbiage was spilled, in describing the new SE-Xbot series. Flowery, exuberant, exaggerated, even hyperbolic. [Your copy-writer is extremely articulate, and has excellent command of the English language!!] As you said, communicating the direction planned, and design intention. VERY lofty aspirations!

That’s all fine and dandy, but many are going to read that as a product description. Not as “forward looking statements” of hopes and dreams you may have for the future. :grimacing: And I did want to caution you on that. Not to go overboard, and keep a CLEAR picture of what the real PRODUCT is, that people will actually be paying their hard-earned money for. :money_bag: :money_bag: We are buying a product, NOT aspirations.

Your materials commented elsewhere that people needed to keep their expectations in check. And be willing to tolerate small imperfections, and not get upset about them. This IS a new 1st-gen product release. That is all true, and good advice.

But then your materials went and turned around, elsewhere, and hyped it to the sky! Those are two OPPOSITE positions, and to me, they are incompatible. Unless one section is clearly marked, as Future Directions. And that definitely was not the case.

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So the second, related concern I mentioned above was:

  • if you hype things too much now, people will be disappointed in the reality
  • but then LATER, when you really DO have those wonderful new capabilities, that will boomerang on you
  • one group of people will say, “I’m just not buying it this time” (buying as in believing)
  • another group will say, “So what! They already HAD all that, 2 generations ago.”
  • so you’ve just shot yourself in the foot :woman_facepalming:

I am just hoping my comments prove to be valuable to you, in some ways. And help you to be more successful. I wish you the best, as always. We have to start somewhere, or we won’t start at all. And I congratulate SE Dolls for being willing to take that first step! :+1: Bravo.

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35

Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed thoughts.

We have noted your feedback and passed it on to our team for internal review and discussion.

We truly appreciate your perspective and the time you invested in writing this. It’s valuable for us to understand how the product and messaging are being perceived from a user point of view.

Thanks again for your support and constructive input.

— SEDOLL

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36

Yes, if I didn’t have a great interest in seeing such a thing succeed, I would not be spending so much time on it! :smiley:

I did just notice that we are a pretty small group here, and not many have stopped by or read any of the comments. Just you, me, and the crickets chirping. Ha ha.

I do hope you are very successful.

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37

At least one “cricket” is learning from your questions and the answers as he decides who will be his first companion. Thank you for the great questions and the informative answers. Have an awesome day!

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38

Thanks! It’s still a pretty new space, so there aren’t many people here yet, but I believe more will join over time. Haha, no worries; I’ll just listen and keep track of things. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::clinking_glasses:

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