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ASUS Unveils $599 Home Robot 'Zenbo' (computerworld.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the personal-assistant dept.

An anonymous reader writes: In addition to the razor thin ZenBook 3, Asus unveiled a cute talking robot for the home at this week's Computex trade show in Taipei. The robot, called Zenbo, is priced at $599 and is pitched as a personal assistant that can help look after elderly relatives or read stories to the kids. It's about two feet tall and rolls around on wheels, with a display that can show animated faces or be used for making video calls and streaming movies. When asked, "Hey Zenbo, is it true you can take pictures?" by ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih, the robot replied with, "Yes, I can take photographs." Zenbo took a photo of him on stage with the audience in the background when Shih told it to. The robot doesn't have an official release date yet, but developers can sign up for a software kit to build applications for it now.

24 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. A limited repertoire . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Of faces, gestures, and phrases will ensure that after hearing and seeing them about two hundred times the users will want to chuck the thing through the nearest window. However, any infirm users will simply have to endure the torture.

  2. 599??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It better give good blow jobs at that price.

    1. Re:599??? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      It better give good blow jobs at that price.

      Nope, it has no suction capability. It is basically just an Amazon Echo with wheels at three times the price.

  3. A $600 Claptrap by zenlessyank · · Score: 2

    Nifty!

  4. Second ASUS announcement today. by SeaFox · · Score: 2

    "Anonymous" submission indeed!

    1. Re:Second ASUS announcement today. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      I had an ASUS Android tablet. It got security updates for about 18 months and then was left with known, remotely exploitable, security updates. I won't buy anything else from them that doesn't either have third-party OS support or a legally enforceable guarantee that they'll provide updates for the expected lifetime of the device.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:Second ASUS announcement today. by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      18 months? That's pretty good for and Android device. I had an LG Android phone, and it never got a single update from the day I bought it. I managed to install the T-Mobile update (I was on a different carrier, in Canada) to bump it from 2.2 to 2.3. This was a phone that was released only 6 months before Android.

      To contrast, my Surfrace 2 with Windows RT that I bought over 2 years ago still gets regular updates to this day. A platform that Microsoft has effectively killed and yet they are still releasing updates for it.

      I personally will never buy another Android device until they actually fix the problem with updates. The only way to fix it would be for the updates to come straight from Google and all carrier/manufacturer customizations be in the form or apps, which have nothing to do with the proper operation of the phone. They would also have to figure out a way to get drivers to work with upgraded versions, since I hear that is a big problem with getting manufacturers to release updates.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    3. Re:Second ASUS announcement today. by jon3k · · Score: 1

      I personally will never buy another Android device until they actually fix the problem with updates.

      Between this and the scary amount of high risk security vulnerabilities I won't either.

  5. Re: Yes but by fermion · · Score: 1

    I don't think that fsck has been rewritten to turn on the pleasure mode. For 599 I hope it would at least vacuum. The TV entertains the kids for free.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  6. But but by codeButcher · · Score: 1

    Can it vacuum/do dishes/iron my shirt?

    --
    Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
    1. Re:But but by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Can it vacuum/do dishes/iron my shirt?

      Can it walk up stairs . . . ? I live in a house that is spread over four floors. I don't want anything that I would need to schlepp up stairs.

      Hmmm . . . maybe a Dalek . . . ?

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:But but by MobyDisk · · Score: 2

      I suspect they target the elderly because the elderly tend to live in single floor buildings.

  7. Smoke detector by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Given the number of old people who eventually die by falling asleep while smoking, an intelligent smoke detector might be a good idea.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  8. How about just building a feasible cleaning bot? by Qbertino · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I whish they'd focus on building a really good cleaning bot instead of toys.
    Would be a great help for the elderly too.
    Roomba could use some hard competition.

    My 2 cents.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  9. Re:How about just building a feasible cleaning bot by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    Its really hard to do. It takes a lot of force to clean some surfaces. That requires a heavy robot. Then it needs to dispose of debris it collects so it has to be able to dump that somewhere appropriate. It needs to take care not to damage delicate things as well.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  10. Re:hope by MobyDisk · · Score: 2

    Stories about new robotic development platforms is in the top 10 list of reasons I read Slashdot. Not every commercial product mentioned on Slashdot is a "Slashvertisement."

  11. Re:How about just building a feasible cleaning bot by MobyDisk · · Score: 2

    Roomba could use some hard competition.

    There's a dozen hard competitors to Roomba.
    http://thesweethome.com/review...
    http://heavy.com/tech/2015/02/...

  12. Here's a novel idea by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

    Here's a novel idea -- instead of buying a piece of equipment to read to your kids, do it yourself. Kids need quality interaction with their parents and having machine read to them is not much better than plopping them in front of the tv.

  13. I'm not sure I get it. by Rambo+Tribble · · Score: 1

    Does "Zenbo" mean "creepy" in a relevant dialect? Or are we just supposed to infer that?

  14. Re:How about just building a feasible cleaning bot by frnic · · Score: 1

    There is a company working on (selling?) robots to help with elderly in assisted living situations. The robots are able to emote and express compassion. They seem to work well and in general are well accepted by shut in's.

  15. "cute" robot.... by tekrat · · Score: 1

    Now, if only "cute" meant .... you know... CUTE!

    --
    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
  16. It cannot fetch a beer by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Dead before it even gets going.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  17. Terrible commercial but still nerding hard by werepants · · Score: 1

    I really, really want one of these things. I can tell you that my kids would lose their minds over it, and just as a basic but really capable telepresence platform it would be very cool. It would be a way more interactive means to skype with the kids on work trips, or check on the pets while we're out. Since Amazon is making Alexa portable to other systems, you could do some really freaking neat stuff with this. Looks like the developer registration site is slashdotted otherwise I would sign up right now.

    Remember AIBO? That thing cost 4x as much and didn't have anything like the connectivity or versatility - and still managed to push 150k units. I'm hoping this is the first step into general-purpose home robotics. Unfortunately, tech specs are scarce. The critical thing to know is whether it's a little Linux box inside... if so, I foresee a big hit, at least with the geek dad crowd.

  18. Re:How about just building a feasible cleaning bot by samwichse · · Score: 1

    I want a robot vacuum that can do stairs.