Chinese web giant Baidu Inc., one of the biggest names in artificial intelligence outside the U.S., today joined the smart device race with a wild-looking new smart speaker and equally colorful home robot.

Baidu revealed the new devices, both powered by Baidu’s DuerOS AI assistant, today in Beijing at its annual Baidu World conference, whose theme this year is “Bring AI to Life.” Although AI is one of the most complicated fields of tech research today, Baidu Chairman and Chief Executive Robin Li said it has the potential to make the world easier for everyone else.

“Many people think that the world will become more and more complicated,” Li said. “With the arrival of the AI era, Baidu believes that we can bring changes to everything through technology,. Baidu hopes to use AI technologies to make a complex world simper, because today, Baidu knows you better than you know yourself.”

The smart speaker and home robot announced today are part of Baidu’s new Raven line of devices, which are the company’s first hardware products that use the DuerOS assistant that it announced last week. The speaker, which is called Raven H, has a vibrant design that stands out, unlike the more subdued designs found in rival smart speakers such as Amazon Echo or Google Home. The look for the speaker was created jointly by Raven Tech, an AI startup acquired by Baidu in February, and by Swedish electronics company Teenage Engineering, which is best known for its audio synthesizers.

Raven R, Baidu’s new home robot, also features a unique design with a square “face” mounted to a six-axle swivel that gives the robot a high degree of movement that makes it seem more alive. Baidu said it gave Raven R an emotional intelligence of sorts, making it easier for less tech-savvy people to interact with it.

Baidu also has another home robot in the works called Raven Q, which the company describes as a concept product that will eventually be able to integrate multiple high-level AI features, including computer vision, voice recognition and natural language processing. Raven Q will also be able to use simultaneous localization and mapping, a mapping technique that allows robots to learn and remember their surroundings to make navigation easier.

According to Cheng Lyu, the founder of Raven Tech who joined Baidu when it acquired the startup, the new line of Raven products will take full advantage of Baidu’s work in AI.

“Each product in our new Raven series is integrated with Baidu’s latest AI technologies, including facial recognition, computer vision and even our Apollo autonomous driving technology,” Lyu said. “These smart speakers and AI home robot may sound like a small step in the history of technology – but they will help people’s everyday lives and bring them an experience once only seen in sci-fi movies.”

Despite frequently being referred to as “China’s Google,” Baidu’s work in AI is not quite as well-known as the work being done by Alphabet Inc. But Baidu has been investing heavily in AI development for some time, both in business and in academia. Baidu’s scientists have co-authored a number of academic papers on AI research, including AI pioneer and former Baidu Chief Scientist Andrew Ng. More recently, Baidu open-sourced its deep learning platform in August, and in September it announced the creation of a $1.5 billion fund for the development of autonomous vehicle technology.

“In the future, Baidu will continue to launch innovative products driven by AI,” Baidu Chief Operating Officer Qi Lu said in a statement today. “We will make AI visible and touchable, introducing AI into everyone’s lives.”

Photos: Baidu