ASUS Zenbo
ASUS announce something a little
different, if completely on trend: a home robot. "With the goals of "assistance, entertainment and
companionship," it's aimed at older people in particular. However, the
most interesting feature here is the promise that the robot will connect with
traditional and smart home devices. You'll be able to check who's at the door
from a connected camera, and then remote-unlock the door from the robot's, er,
face. Zenbo will also be able to connect to lights, TVs and air conditioners --
if it speaks your langauge, that is.
The robot can
roam around independently, and take directions by voice command. ZenBo's face
also acts as a touchpad interface. You'll be able to place video calls, shop
online, as well as stream video content, when it's not blushing.
It's still
early days, but ASUS says Zenbo will offer spoken reminders to its owners, like
doctor appointment and medication cues. It'll also be able to send emergency
messages to family members if someone falls down — you can even take control of
the robot and check the situation from Zenbo's built-in camera. For kids, the
robot will be able to (awkwardly, robotically) dance along to music as well as
read stories aloud from its built-in library. Naturally, ASUS is promoting a
Zenbo developer program, with access to the bot's SDK and more information to
help birth apps -- something very important if the robot is to be a success.
It will be
inevitably compared to Softbank's Pepper home robot, and there are indeed a few
similarities, but if ASUS can learn one major lesson from its taller Japanese
rival, it's that a device like this needs a reason to exist. It could be those
smart home tricks that make or break Zenbo. Although that US$ 599 price is pretty
cheap for a home robot, that will certainly help.
