Enabot EBO Max review: Is this AI companion robot the future of smart home security?
Those large, animated eyes are central to the EBO Max's friendly and approachable personality. Picture: Noel Campion
After living with the Enabot Ebo Max robot for a while now, it’s hard to say if this is the future or just another tech fail. This roaming AI companion keeps watch, though its quirks made me question if it’s essential beyond the novelty factor.
The Ebo Max features a spherical design and is balanced in such a way that allows it to bounce off obstacles without the risk of it falling over. Like a cat, it always lands on its feet. It moves on rubber tracks rather than wheels, which is great for grip, yet it still struggled with my home's saddle boards. I actually had to use an adapter on either side of the threshold between the living room and hall just to keep it moving across the ground floor.
While its AI-driven cameras enable autonomous navigation around furniture and other obstacles, the lack of climbing ability means you would need a second unit to cover a two-storey house.
The setup was surprisingly easy using the Ebo Home app. Just 15 minutes mapping my downstairs via the app, and it learned the layout. You can set waypoints, so I marked the hall, kitchen, dining room and living room for navigation points.
The charging station has a small footprint, but you still need at least two metres of clear space around it for the robot to manoeuvre. It includes two adhesive strips intended to stop the base from sliding, though these become quite useless if you decide to reposition the unit.
Because the base is so light, the robot can easily nudge it out of alignment during docking. I found that tucking the station firmly against a wall solved most of my issues. Once anchored like that, the connection worked without fail every evening.
The OLED eyes are massive, and depending on your point of view, you’ll find them loveable or a little creepy. I think they look cute, and the way they react when they see movement is charming. The app allows for significant customisation regarding these eyes. You can change their brightness or even set them to act as a clock. However, I noticed that leaving the screen active for long periods has a noticeable impact on performance. If you want it to remain a charming companion, you might find yourself toggling the eye brightness down during the night to save power.
It’s this blend of personality and utility that makes the device unique, though the eyes are clearly designed to evoke an emotional response rather than just serve a functional purpose.
The camera supports up to 4K resolution and provides a sharp, detailed image that is perfect for pet monitoring. However, because the camera sits at floor level, it simply cannot capture anything high up in the room. If only the Ebo Max could fly, or even open doors, we would have much better coverage.
Calling Ebo from your phone is straightforward and supports both audio and video modes. During a video call, the robot's eyes act as miniature monitors that mirror the footage from your handset, while you watch everything through the robot's perspective. While this made for amusing interactions with my pets, it also proved useful when I needed to reach someone who had left their phone in a car and was otherwise unreachable.
Scheduled tasks work like a dream once set up. You can set Ebo for useful things like setting reminders for household routines, such as reminding family members about bin days or prompting children to head to bed and finish their homework. You can also instruct Ebo to patrol the house three times a day while you’re away and notify you if it detects any unusual activity, or every morning, check who’s home and remind them to feed the cat.
The tracking mode is useful if you have pets. I found that setting it to monitor my dog near the charging dock worked well, especially when scheduling sessions for specific times of the day. You can run these for 10 minutes at a time, up to 10 times daily, to check activity without constantly watching the live feed.
The robot uses AI vision to detect falls. During testing, when I simulated a fall, the EBO Max approached me and triggered an emergency notification to my phone. For families with elderly relatives, this proactive monitoring could be life-changing.
I found that Ebo can hold full conversations thanks to its built-in AI, though there is a noticeable lag in its responses during longer exchanges. It is also capable of describing what its camera sees; when I asked it to identify objects around the room, the descriptions were quite precise.
On the other hand, voice interactions need absolute silence, and Ebo can be slow to respond. Once, two people talking at once meant Ebo ignored me completely while I was trying to ask it something.
The robot is designed to automatically return to the dock when its power runs low, which is a relief for anyone who might forget to plug it in manually. Yet I found that heavy use significantly affects how long it stays active. If you have the robot performing frequent patrols or keeping its display bright, the battery drains much faster than if it were simply sitting idle.
The Enabot Ebo Max brings peace of mind with features like fall detection and the ability to roam your home remotely to keep an eye on pets, albeit with two caveats – it can’t climb stairs or open doors. While it’s not for everyone, it is a brilliant, intelligent piece of hardware that bridges the gap between a security camera and a family member.
€550 Enabot
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