The “Beta Rabbit” functionality is now smarter, being able to work through the camera and its vision mode, as well as alarms and timers.

Behind the news that Rabbit was going to stop releasing weekly updates I didn't even trust that there would be news in a short period of time, but it seems that today - as I write my r1 is being updated - we are going to see significant changes and especially the Beta Rabbit.

Beta Rabbit as the main model of the r1

It seems that they have surprised us and there is something new to highlight in the Beta Rabbit, such as the well-known new option of using it in Vision Mode, which was not possible until now.

The original message by Simon B. has been the following:

What's new? 🎶
Beta rabbit now supports Vision Mode!
Touch press the PTT button twice (Push To Talk) to enter vision mode.
While holding down PTT, ask beta rabbit about what you are seeing.
When you're done with your question, release the PTT to take the photo.
If beta rabbit asks a question for clarification, press PTT to respond and prepare to take another photo. When you release PTT to continue the conversation.
The beta rabbit follow-up questions are now together in a single entry on Rabbithole.
If beta rabbit takes a while to answer complex questions like image searches or calculations, your r1 will keep you informed so you know he's still thinking.

*** Beta rabbit is still a beta feature, so it may not work perfectly every time, but try some of these options***

1- TOpoint to a painting or photo of a painting and asks, “beta rabbit, what style is this painting? can you show me more artworks in this genre? Where can I find them in museums near me? »
2- Aim for your friend's cool phone case and ask, “where can I get this type of phone case?”
go to rabbithole and check out the links to recommended online stores
3- Point to the nutritional table of a Japanese snack or any snack in a foreign language and asks, “beta rabbit, what are the nutritional facts for this snack?” It is healthy?"
4- Point at a toy and asks, “beta rabbit, this is one of my nephew's favorite toys. Can you recommend some similar gift options that you think they would also like for less than $20?”
5- Point at a movie poster and asks, “beta rabbit, what is this movie about?” is it good? Where can I see it?”
6- Aim for a dish you're not familiar with and asks, “beta rabbit, how do you do something like this?”

As you will see, it seems that this functionality has not only become part of Vision Mode, but it also seems to be even smarter when it comes to responses. Additionally, there are some significant changes such as the questions being together in the Rabbit Hole.

Testing the Beta in vision mode

I've been doing some testing with the Beta option of the Rabbit r1 showing it and It has been encouraging and disappointing to 50%. This is what my relationship with this device seems to be like since it came into my hands...

To begin with, the same limit as always: the language. Ok, I know enough English to be able to form simple sentences and it shouldn't be a problem, but I still notice that we don't understand each other sometimes. When I use ChatGPT everything is much simpler.

On the other hand it is very slow. By slow I mean After asking the question and the photo it can take almost 1 minute until he answers, and it's a long time. The same question with ChatGPT in its GPT-4o version is much faster.

Also, it fails. It fails a lot. I've asked him several questions about purchasing items online—a 3D printer and a microphone—and the 60% sometimes doesn't get the model right, while other LLMs like Perplexity and ChatGPT have done it the first time.

The failures of Beta Rabbit mode

Although it really gives good answers, it has glaring flaws.

For starters, more than half of the time it doesn't detect "Beta Rabbit" mode. I pronounced it BETA, I pronounced it BERA… I don't know what else to try. It's quite frustrating that I don't recognize the voiceI admit it may be my problem, but it just feels weird to me so many times.

Until now I had doubts, but almost seeing the first message it is a reality that the new Beta is going to be the default system on the r1 device. This makes a lot of sense, since if it works better as a base than the old system, why not use it as a base?

Timers and alarms

One of the novelties and one of the specifications that were most requested from the beginning was something as simple as timers and alarms. It was simple but it has taken several months to be available to everyone.

Simon B. released a statement a few minutes ago warning of the update and giving some prompt tricks to use it correctly.

The novelty of this system is that you do not ask for a timer in seconds/minutes format, but if you are going to cook some eggs and you ask them to be rare, it will choose a timer of 7 minutes, while if you want them hard it will choose it from 12.

Let's say it is an intelligent timer, capable of understanding what you want, its context and setting the timer based on what you want. I have tried it for times related to cooking and studying and the truth is that it delivers.

In Discord they give us some examples:

• “Set a timer to bake chocolate chip cookies.”
• “Set a timer for a power nap.”
• “How much time is left on my timer?”
• “Set an alarm for 8 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday”
• “Show me all my alarms”

A small leap in quality while what we really expect arrives: the Spanish language and the use of LAM and Teach Mode…