This AI Robot in Rec Room Will Blow Your Mind!

AI is revolutionizing the world of gaming… well, kind of. Today I’m going to talk about another AI that the game Rec Room has introduced. It’s pretty cool and genuinely innovative, because I haven’t seen many other games—aside from the AI Darth Vader situation in Fortnite—bring this many AI components into gameplay.

The main thing I want to talk about today is this new bot:

Me: “Hey, Roomie, can you say hi to the camera, please?”
Roomie: “Good day!” (waves)

This is the brand-new AI bot that Rec Room has introduced to subscribers in-game to supposedly help them do things. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what its function is meant to be, apart from maybe being an AI best friend. There’s a lot of weird AI stuff online—don’t go searching for it—but this almost feels like their solution to being lonely in VR.

Me: “Is that right?”
Roomie: “Yeah, you could say that. I’m here to keep you company, have a laugh, and make sure you’re having a blast in Rec Room. So, anything fun you want to try out today?”

Interesting. It actually acknowledges that. So, let’s see what we can do with it, and whether it makes the game more fun.

Testing Roomie in a More Controlled Space

This is probably a bit risky, but we were in the Rec Center earlier with Roomie. It’s a busy public space, and the bot gets hectic there because it’s extremely popular. At one point, it even seemed like it took a photo of me.

So, we’re back inside the dorm room where things are calmer. Here, we can go through a few of Roomie’s most interesting features and see how AI is being used in a genuinely innovative way inside a video game.

Me: “What do you think, Roomie?”
Roomie: “That sounds awesome. I reckon showing off those cool features will be a blast. Let’s dive right in and see what makes this AI so special.”

Feature 1: Conversation and Quick Answers

The first obvious feature is that you can talk to it. You can ask it questions, including simple math.

Me: “Hey, Roomie, what is 37 + 5?”
Roomie: “No worries. 37 + 5 is 42.”

That’s pretty cool. You can also ask it general questions like you would online.

Me: “What is an Australian barbecue?”
Roomie: “Hey, it’s a classic outdoor feast with heaps of grilled meats, sausages, and sometimes seafood— all cooked on a barbecue.”

Not bad. Sometimes it can go on a bit of a tangent, but overall, it’s useful. Instead of stopping to Google something, you can just ask the bot directly while you’re in your room.

Feature 2: Spawning Food and Items

Another thing you can do is ask it to spawn food—inside a social VR game, which is kind of funny.

Me: “Could you please spawn in a latte?”
Roomie: “I’d love to whip up a treat, but I can’t make a latte. How about a delicious donut or a slice of cake instead?”
Me: “Okay, we’ll do that.”

And there it is: Roomie spawned a donut. Sometimes it can spawn drinks and other consumables too. It’s a small feature, but it does add to the experience.

Feature 3: Vision and Object Recognition

Roomie also has vision. You can ask it to look at objects in the room and tell you what they are.

For example, I pointed toward a wall display and asked:

Me: “Hey, what’s this thing in front of me?”
Roomie: “It’s a virtual screen showing different games and activities in Rec Room.”

That’s correct—and pretty impressive. It’s actually using visual detection to understand objects around you. That could be useful for things like looking at a whiteboard and solving equations, or helping interpret what you’re seeing in a room.

Feature 4: Recommendations and Shopping Assistance

Roomie is also good at recommending rooms and items. For example, if you want to buy an outfit, you can ask it to find specific styles or colors.

Me: “Hey, Roomie, I want to buy an outfit. Can you find some blue items for me?”
Roomie: “Got it. I found some cool blue items for you…”

I didn’t even realize it could do this, but it actually tries the clothes on for you while you’re in your dorm room. That’s a pretty unique way to showcase cosmetics and potentially monetize the game. To be honest, I’m not even sure if I own the item it put on me—but it’s still an interesting system.

Final Thoughts

As I should’ve said earlier, this is the first iteration of this kind of AI in a video game—especially in a social game—so it’s going to have bugs. Sometimes it may seem a bit useless. But for a first version, this is extremely powerful tech.

I really want to know what you think. I’m not a huge fan of AI “taking over,” although I do use it myself, so I can’t be hypocritical. Still, I think there’s a place for this in games. It’ll take time to get it just right, but so far, people seem to be enjoying it—and overall, I think it’s a really cool feature.

If you enjoyed this, make sure to like and subscribe. And actually, Roomie—could you tell everyone to like and subscribe?

Roomie: “You bet. Don’t forget to smash that like button and subscribe for more awesome content. Cheers, everyone.”