There’s a wave of social robots taking over crowdfunding websites. Promising to be your personal assistant and companion of the future, these robots have become funding behemoths raking in hundreds of thousands to even millions of dollars per crowdfunding campaign. Spruced up campaign videos and full-fledged startup teams provide a strong backbone for the robot and its ability to garner backers, but there are two flaws lurking in the reality of these crowdfunded social robots: robot fulfillment and backer expectation.

Robot fulfillment is the robot’s ability to perform the actions described in the campaign. For example, can the robot order food when told to? Backer expectation is the anticipation that the backer has towards the robot they’re backing. In the case of social robots, it’s the belief that the robot will improve their lives by providing on-demand information and assistance through a talking machine interface. Both of these factors have been set high, and that’s a problem.

Let’s first take a look at Jibo. Jibo is a crowdfunded social robot born from the mind of MIT graduate and roboticist Cynthia Breazeal. It sits atop your table playing your typical virtual assistant. Ask Jibo about the weather or the recipe to that one meal you’re cooking up and he’ll answer. He’ll even notify you of texts and order food from your favorite restaurant. But that’s about it. Jibo is a stationary Siri-like robot that’s bound to whatever surface you place him on. However, that hasn’t scared off backers from contributing to Jibo’s huge success.

Jibo’s robot fulfillment is obscure at the moment. I have no doubt he can recognize average voice commands such as “how’s the weather” or recite words from a webpage, but I find it a bit odd that there have been zero demos showing off real dynamic conversations between Jibo and people. A simple search query for “Jibo demo” will bring up endless videos where Jibo recites his robotic “hello” and then spins around in circles while playing back a tune. It could very well be that Dr. Breazeal and her team are keeping everything behind the curtain for a big reveal, but there’s also the chance that development isn’t going as planned.

Aside from robot fulfillment, there’s the pickle for backer expectation. Jibo is promising to be your robotic assistant and companion. Backers are expecting a lot from Jibo, but they shouldn’t be surprised when Jibo turns out to be no more than a motorized talking smartphone. Jibo’s advertised features may seem reminiscent of science fiction, but they’re pretty close to the boilerplate algorithms we experience with digital assistants in our smartphones. And honestly, how often do you use your phone’s digital assistant? Once a month? Probably. Everyday? Unlikely. Perhaps backers are looking past this and investing for the social aspect that Jibo retains as a robot with pseudo-emotions. Nonetheless, I’m laying down my cards and saying Jibo will be a disappointing, dust-collecting machine in a majority of backers’ homes prior to adoption.

Another probable candidate for jaded backer expectations is a new robot named Robit. It’s a tiny robot currently seeking funding on Indiegogo that plans to be the robot that “does it all.” A robot such as Mr. Handy from the Fallout series if you will. With Robit, however, that’s not exactly the case. The robot moves around on two wheels with a weird motorized head at the top that spins around in an effort to convey emotion. No arms, object manipulators, or end effectors of any kind. The makers of Robit boast he can set alarms, remind you of your daily tasks, act as a robotic webcam for video calling, and even advise you on what to eat if you’re on a diet. These tasks boil down to the essential apps found on most smartphones. However, with Robit, the backer is going to have to make sure Robit’s available 100% of the time, and there’s no way he’s fitting in a pocket. Once a backer realizes this, they’re more likely to get annoyed with the hassle of Robit and just go back to using technology that’s faster and more reliable.

Moving on to robot fulfillment, here’s a robot that is bound to piss off backers. Its name is Alpha 2 and it’s a humanoid robot built for the home.

Backers have put in over a million bucks for this robot to deliver high-tech voice recognition, object handling, and features similar to your personal computer, but it’s ability to fulfill its promises aren’t looking so good. Alpha 2 was demoed at CES 2016 during a CNET interview, and it pretty much failed at performing the promised features: voice recognition, dancing, and basic motor skills. The whole thing was caught on tape, and it’s pretty hard to watch without cringing into a raisin. Warning. Awkwardness ensues.

The main point here is that these social robots are no more than your smartphone in the flesh. A smartphone, however, is quick, reliable, and portable. Putting the burden on a robot to tell you the weather may seem novelty at first, but it’s almost certain to get old once you realize that you have to make sure your robot’s there, listening, and answering in record timing before you get frustrated and resort to other means of technology. Wait, isn’t that what we’ve already done with our phone’s digital assistants? Social robots are on their way, but they’ll be a big disappointment to those who paid for them to arrive.

This article contains the opinion of the author and not the overall views of SimpleBotics.