Asus Launches Its First-Ever Robot Zenbo
Asus launched lots of products on Monday at its high-profile Zenvolution press conference at Humble House in Taipei,Taiwan. A total of 10 new devices were introduced to be accurate. The star of the show, however, wasn't the company's flagship ZenFone 3 Deluxe or even the Surface Pro 4 competitor Transformer 3 Pro. It was Zenbo, its first-ever smart robot or as Asus likes to call it its first ever smart home helper.
Announcing Zenbo on stage, 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."
The Zenbo is as attractive as it is smart. Priced at $599, the Zenbo doesn't look any different from the slurry of Chinese smart robots that have crept up in current times. But there's a natural innocence about the Zenbo that makes it,well, instantly likable. As narrated by Zenbo itself, it is a robot accomplished of many talents. At the same time, crowds make it nervous. That's your human element thrown it that is so necessary if it has to bear in a viable household amid children, amid senior citizens.
"Zenbo is a friendly and capable home robot designed to provide assistance, entertainment, and companionship to families and meant to address the needs of each family member in this ubiquitous computing era" according to the company.
The company adds that despite the fact is Zenbo is considered to address the requirements of each family member, it has specific functionality for senior family members, helping maintain their health and connect them to the digital world. The Zenbo will offer spoken reminders of important information, such as medication, doctor's appointments, and even exercise schedules.
As for involving family members to the digital world, the Zenbo supports make video calls, use social media and shopping sites, and even watch streaming movies and TV shows, all using voice commands and showed help.
The robot also monitors the house for any emergency condition, such as a fall, and will inform specified family members in case of such an event. Those who reply to the notification will get the capability to control the Zenbo, making it move nearby the fallen member and use the camera to take a closer look.
As for children, the Zenbo is meant to act like a playmate and express interactive audiovisual stories, play educational games, and even regal them with their favorite dancing, songs alongside. It also allows an interactive encyclopedia. Lastly, the Asus Zenbo robot is also intended to help, connect to smart home and traditional home appliances, and permit users to control them.
Asus Zenbo also goals to bridge the digital divide between generations by creating it easy to complete a variety of online tasks — including making video calls, shopping, using social media, and streaming movies and TV shows — using voice commands and guided help.