Asus has launched a low-cost robot that will offer every single thing you may ever need from a personal assistant.
Zenbo will cost around £400 – no more than a smartphone – although it can do a lot more than your average mobile, thanks to its wheeled base, advanced voice recognition and general attitude.
The robot has been designed to prompt you with reminders, useful information and to provide children with entertainment, so pretty much the same as other robotic assistants. However, this is one robot that’s much cheaper than the average home help robot and doesn’t scrimp on design features, either.
Its touchscreen face protrudes from a ball-like base and can display emotions, just like a human. It’s voice-controlled, so you can ask it questions like when your next dentist appointment is and it’ll respond with information taken from your calendar.
Zenbo also has a safety feature that will monitor the vulnerable in their homes, making sure it alerts a nextof kin if its owner falls, for example. It can then video the situation so carers can judge whether they need to hot foot it over to their patient’s house or call the emergency services.
For entertainment, Zenbo can sing, dance, tell stories and play games. It can also control smart home features like the lighting if you so wish.
Asus chairman Jonney Shih said: “For decades, humans have dreamed of owning such a companion: one that is smart, dear to our hearts, and always at our disposal. Our ambition is to enable robotic computing for every household.”
Although Zenbo can’t do other tasks, such as clean the house, make your dinner or do much in the way of advanced tasks, for the low-cost, it offers a lot of bang for your buck and coming from a name like Asus, you can be assured it’ll do its job well.
