Have Your Own Robot Assistant For $599 With ‘Asus’ ‘Zenbo’

These days, the competition for providing smart assistant services is heating up, with “Amazon” currently in the lead with their “Echo” device. With the “Zenbo” robot from “Asus” though, the competition has just gotten a lot hotter. Reminiscent to droids in the “Star Wars” movie franchise, the “Zenbo” can perform many of the things that smart assistants can and can follow owners around like R2-D2 would.

According to a PC Mag article, the tiny robot assistant can give reminders, play music, read stories to children, and provide recipes, among other things. It can also connect with any device in the home that is compatible with it, thus allowing it to do things like turn the lights on and off, lock doors, and so on.

Now, the “Echo” device as well as “Google’s” own version called “Google Home” can already do these things, so they are not really the main selling point. Aside from the price tag of only $599, the “Zenbo” can also connect to people on a more personal level.

The “Echo” and the “Google Home” smart assistants are functional, but for all intents and purposes, they are more akin to appliances than actual assistants. With its oval-shaped screen, the “Zenbo” is able to display emotions thanks to a set of big, round eyes and a perpetual smile. It is also able to speak to owners in a suitably robotic voice.

Because the robot can also detect facial expressions and tone of voice, it is also able to respond accordingly. This makes the “Zenbo” similar to Japanese company “Softbank’s” robot called “Pepper,” which is also able to recognize facial expressions and voice tone.

“Asus” hopes to market their robot assistant to families with elderly people in particular because the “Zenbo” can remind them to take their pills and call for help if said elderly people are in distress.