First Asus robot unveiled at Computex

The concept arose from Asus chairman Jonney Shih's ambition to enable robotic computing for every household. 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. Zenbo has a full range of capabilities, including the ability to move independently and understand spoken commands.

Young and old

Zenbo is designed for everyone, but he has specific functionality that helps senior family members safeguard their health and well-being as well as enjoy a connected digital life. As a home care assistant, he provides convenient, spoken reminders of important information, such as doctor appointments, medication, exercise schedules, and anything else that needs to be remembered.

Zenbo also monitors the home for emergency situations – such as falls – and immediately responds to them by notifying specified family members on their smartphones, no matter where they are. When they receive an emergency notification, family members can remotely control Zenbo to move nearby and use Zenbo's built-in camera to visually check on their loved one. Zenbo is also a companion who helps to bridge the digital divide between generations by making it easy to accomplish a variety of online tasks – including making video calls, using social media, shopping, and streaming movies and TV shows – using voice commands and guided help.

Zenbo is also an educational playmate for kids, entertaining them with interactive stories and learning games that foster their creativity and logical thinking skills. With his built-in stereo sound system, Zenbo can play songs and dance along to the music. Zenbo includes a built-in library of stories that he tells in a variety of entertaining voices, while displaying accompanying images on his screen and controlling the room lighting to add a new level of interactivity to storytime. The robot also comes with educational games and an interactive encyclopedia.

Household helper

In addition to working with seniors and kids, Zenbo is also a hands-free household helper equipped with a broad range of skills. Zenbo can connect to and control many smart home and traditional devices, including lights, TVs and air conditioners. Homeowners can also use Zenbo's built-in screen to view visitors at the door and then unlock it with a simple voice command. He can also help out in the kitchen, reading recipes out loud and functioning as a voice-controlled timer so home chefs can stay focused on cooking.

With his built-in camera and ability to move around the house, Zenbo also acts as a family photographer. When homeowners are away, Zenbo can act as a remote-controlled home security camera that is accessible from anywhere via an intuitive smartphone app.

Zenbo supports a growing number of custom apps that expand his capabilities and bring new features to users. The free Zenbo Developer Program provides members access to the Zenbo SDK and a library of information they need to bring their creative ideas to life. Additionally, Zenbo Partners can work with Asus to help build a rich, robotic ecosystem that will enhance Zenbo and enrich users’ lives.