Recently, Alexa was introduced to our home. She is perky, attentive, and most of all capable of so much more than we realized.
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“Alexa, wake me up at 5:30 a.m. with Kendrick Llamar.”
“Okay. I will wake you up tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. with Kendrick Llamar from your Spotify.”
She plays music, tells us the weather, sets reminders, alarms, leads meditation and workouts, orders from Starbucks, calls Ubers and Lyfts, updates us on sports scores and even has games that you can play with her.
She’s a terrific addition to the home. And she may just have a friend coming soon: Alexa meet Zenbo.
“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,” Asus said.
Zenbo roams independently and takes directions by voice command.
Zenbo assists, entertains, and provides companionship, especially to elderly. He acts as a home care assistant reminding people of doctor’s appointments, medication, exercise schedules, and anything else that needs to be remembered.
He also monitors the home for emergency situations and notifies family members on their smartphones of an emergency, no matter where they are so they can check the home remotely.
Zenbo can connect to the lights, TV, air conditioners, and other smart home devices so that you can control everything from one place. He can also connect with traditional and smart home devices to check who’s at the door from a connected camera and then remote-unlock the door from the robot’s face.
His face acts as a touchpad interface that places video calls, shops online, and streams video content.
He even reads recipes to you while you cook.
This “smart, little companion” recently won an IF DESIGN AWARD, a world-renowned design prize over a 63- member jury made up of independent experts from all over the world. Out of 6,400 entries from 54 different countries, Zenbo was selected.
According to Asus, Zenbo will come on the market for $599. It is still unclear when that will happen, in which countries and what languages the robot will speak. But when he does, Alexa better be ready for a new member to join the family.
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