A Robot That Remembers Faces and Comes to Remind You — EBO X Even Takes Photos for You
Hi to everyone who’s been opening the fridge and going “…why am I here?” more often lately — I’m Hide, tech journalist and part-time house-husband.
Another amazing robot has arrived. EBO X is a new “watch over people and home” robot from Enabot, the maker of the ebo Pro pet camera robot I love.
Our home already has several resident robots, like Loona, which I introduced before, but EBO X is a robot with yet another new concept.
My longtime ebo Pro (right) and EBO X (left). It’s bigger, but keeps the two-wheel drivingTake off the outer box and the inside is a carrying caseThe charging base has built-in decorative LEDsA memory card stores the photos and videos it takes
## Excellent at driving remotely
What really set it apart from other robots when I used it was how easy it is to drive while watching the camera. The 4K camera has a gimbal, so you can tilt it up and down as needed — handy.
With other robots, the speed was too fast to drive while watching the camera, and even avoiding obstacles was a struggle. EBO X is built specifically for watching over your home, so you can adjust the control sensitivity in the app.
You can switch between normal mode and speed mode
Collision-avoidance assist stops it right before obstacles, so you can drive it remotely without worry. Combined with the great camera quality, it was super easy to control.
We have a cat too, and with an automatic litter box and automatic food and water, the cat sometimes stays home alone during short trips. (Of course in summer, the AC also adjusts automatically to the room temperature.)
With the ebo Pro, the battery would sometimes die, or I couldn’t find the cat because it can’t look up. With EBO X, I can explore every corner of the house, including up and down, so I can even spot the cat lounging on a chair — a relief.
A helper you can hand all kinds of tasks to
Besides watching over the house, another handy feature is reminders and sensor-based notifications. You can teach EBO X your family members’ faces, so it can give each person their own reminders.
It remembers faces and comes to let you know
If you make a map of your home, it’ll search around the house to find you and deliver the reminder. Face recognition is useful for safety too: if someone disappears from the house or falls, it lets you know. You can also make calls through EBO X, so it’s a handy feature if you give it to elderly parents to keep an eye on them.
Some features come preset, but you can also create your own
We also have a four-month-old daughter, and it instantly detected her crying and sent a notification to my phone. Pretty impressive.
I’ve come to feel this kind of monitoring really matters for older people living alone. I live in a housing complex that’s over 50 years old, and my neighbors are mostly elderly. We always say hi and chat when we run into each other — there’s the kind of community watchfulness unique to old apartment complexes — but inside the home is a different story.
And over the past few years, more than once, someone has passed away at home without anyone noticing. Every time, thinking about the shock their families must feel breaks my heart. “What if someone had noticed right away when something happened…?” To avoid that kind of regret, I’m thinking about some kind of setup for my own parents’ home too.
EBO X alone won’t give you complete peace of mind, but I also felt that experimenting with technology like this now means being ready to use it right away when it’s needed.
Alexa support means endless possibilities
I also liked that you can launch Alexa directly from the robot. It has high-quality stereo Harman Kardon speakers, so it pairs perfectly with Amazon Music. Having it follow you around as a moving speaker while playing music is nice too.
The speakers on the left and right deliver solid bass
Setting timers, asking “How do you say ○○ in English?” — anything you can do with Alexa, you can do with EBO X.
Sign in to link your Amazon account
It can play podcasts and audiobooks too, so even without an Echo, you can enjoy Amazon’s services with just EBO X while doing housework — handy.
Futuristic design is a plus too
The futuristic design, crafted down to the details, got me excited too. Even the packaging is conceptual and high quality.
Even the packaging is really nice
Inside is a foam box that stores the robot without scratching it, so you can carry it anywhere — like when moving — without worrying about scratches.
Inside is a storage case that protects it well
The charging base is bigger than the old ebo Pro’s and has decorative LEDs. The line lighting that glows like a runway looks great in the dark and works as room decor too.
The charging base is even more stylish
If the camera bothers you, retracting it physically mutes it, so people who are concerned can relax. This round shape reminds me of something... Judo’s brain from Doraemon: Nobita and the Steel Troops... (you’ll get it if you get it)
You can change the volume on top of the camera
Above all, the way it balances on two wheels as it drives is so futuristic, right? It’s a robot you see every day, so I think the great design is a real plus.
When it’s off it can’t stand up, but turn it on and it balances on two wheels as it drives
## Lots to look forward to
Future updates are one of the fun parts of products these days. New features getting added after you buy has become standard for gadgets.
Planned so far are smart conversations through ChatGPT integration, detecting calls for help, scheduled recording, and more. Once those are added, it’ll be even more useful.
What bugged me at this point is step detection. It can detect drops over 20 cm, but it couldn’t detect the roughly 10 cm step at my front entrance and fell off. I hope this gets addressed in an update too.
For now, depending on your home, step detection sometimes didn’t work
At this stage, for users like me who use lots of smart gadgets, it’s a really appealing robot, since you can freely combine features — Alexa included — to make it do things.
On the other hand, people who don’t use gadgets that way might end up only using the monitoring feature. With that in mind, the planned retail price of ¥168,800 might be steep.
If 10 to 20 practical built-in features showed up on the app’s first screen, it’d probably be easier for robot and smart-gadget beginners to use.
Cutting-edge products like this keep evolving based on user needs, so I’m excited to see what comes next.
