内容来源：https://www.theverge.com/tech/978323/whisker-litter-robot-5-pro-review

内容总结：

智能猫砂盆评测：高价AI功能名不副实，传统功能依旧出色

知名科技媒体The Verge的记者Jennifer Pattison Tuohy近日分享了她对Whisker公司最新旗舰产品Litter-Robot 5 Pro智能猫砂盆长达半年的使用体验。这款售价899美元的高端产品主打AI健康监测和猫咪面部识别功能，号称能通过分析猫咪的排泄物及早发现健康隐患，但实际表现却令人大失所望。

在为期六个月的测试中，记者发现该产品的核心卖点几乎全部失效。其引以为傲的“猫咪身份识别”功能（Cat ID）不仅无法区分外貌差异巨大的两只猫，甚至将两只猫的数据混为一谈，导致13.4磅的猫咪体重被错误记录为另一只猫的数值。更令人担忧的是，号称能分辨排泄物类型的WasteID系统也频频出错，无法准确识别，健康监测功能形同虚设。记者调侃道，这款机器人甚至不如自家浴室秤准确。

尽管AI功能表现不佳，但记者也肯定了Litter-Robot 5 Pro作为传统自动猫砂盆的出色性能。其大容量集便箱、直观的LCD屏幕和安静的运行噪音都值得称赞，每周只需清理一次，彻底解放了猫主人的双手。记者同时提醒，如果消费者对AI功能不感兴趣，完全可以选择售价699美元的Litter-Robot 4，其基础功能已足够优秀；而售价599美元的入门款Evo则因做工问题不太推荐。

记者最后指出，Whisker公司落入了许多智能家居企业常见的陷阱——过度迷信AI的潜力。在实验室环境中表现良好的AI技术，一旦投入真实家庭场景，面对千变万化的使用条件便容易失灵。她建议消费者切勿为尚未成熟的未来功能买单，而是专注于产品当下能提供的实际价值。

中文翻译：

近年来宠物科技领域最伟大的发明当属猫咪自动猫砂盆。一台能帮你铲猫屎的机器——养猫的人还能奢求什么呢？那如果能了解猫咪使用猫砂盆的情况、提前发现健康问题的智能功能呢？算我一个。但我有两只猫……别担心，猫咪面部识别可以搞定。
Whisker的AI智能猫砂盆以为我的两只猫互换了身体
这款售价899美元的Litter-Robot 5 Pro是一款出色的铲屎机，但包裹的AI功能却完全不靠谱。
Whisker的AI智能猫砂盆以为我的两只猫互换了身体
这款售价899美元的Litter-Robot 5 Pro是一款出色的铲屎机，但包裹的AI功能却完全不靠谱。
至少，这就是Litter-Robot 5 Pro的设计理念——它是自动铲屎机鼻祖公司Whisker旗下最高端的型号。配备双摄像头系统和一排传感器，能够“嗅出”猫咪的排泄物，再加上AI算法和机器学习，5 Pro承诺不仅能处理我家两只男猫的上厕所习惯，还能精准监控和追踪。结果它失败了。
我花了六个月测试这款售价899美元的Litter-Robot 5 Pro，同时还有它的平价版——售价599美元的Litter-Robot Evo，两款都是去年年底发布的。这些巧妙的设备依靠传感器和电机工作。猫咪进入铺满猫砂的大球形容器；传感器在它排泄时进行感应，一旦它离开，机器人就会旋转滚筒，将废物过滤筛入下方密封的抽屉中。
这省去了每天令人恶心的铲屎工作；你只需要大约每周清空一次抽屉，而且它还能将丑陋的猫砂盆本身遮蔽起来，同时隔离大部分气味。功能齐全的App让你可以远程控制设备的大部分功能；你还可以查看废物和猫砂余量，并通过内置秤查看猫咪的体重。如果你经常出差，猫砂机器人是个很棒的设备，因为它能让你的猫咪在你不在的时候有一个更干净的如厕环境。
Whisker目前有四款型号：Litter-Robot Evo、Litter-Robot 4、Litter-Robot 5和5 Pro。它们都以同样的方式进行“铲屎”。如今，我不建议你为5 Pro的AI功能多花钱——因为它们根本不好用。我也对Evo相比Litter-Robot 4所做的取舍感到失望。
我不建议你为5 Pro的AI功能多花钱——因为它们根本不好用。
Evo没有猫砂余量监测功能，所以App不会在猫砂不足时提醒你；它支持的猫体型更小、数量更少，抽屉更小，也没有夜灯。它还不兼容Whisker出售的猫砂自动补充配件。
虽然Evo的占地更小，适合狭小空间，但它的做工感觉不够结实，而且废物抽屉不太好用，有时候关不严。我确实喜欢它有LCD屏幕来显示工作状态，5 Pro也有。这两款都比LR4上令人困惑的LED指示灯要好得多。
作为铲屎机，Litter-Robot 5 Pro处理废物表现得非常出色。更大的抽屉、更直观的控制——包括那块LCD屏幕——以及更大的球形容器，使它整体上比前代产品售价699美元的Litter-Robot 4更好。但智能功能严重欠缺。
我有一只中年毛孩子，选择这款价格高得多的设备，吸引力在于它承诺能通过更早发现潜在问题来让他更长久地保持健康。幸运的是，Smokey目前身体非常健康，但在我使用5 Pro期间，它每月8美元的Whisker Plus订阅（涵盖AI健康功能和视频存储）没有提供任何一条有价值或可操作的洞察。
它的新WasteID系统号称能区分大号和小号，并更快处理后者以减少异味，但反复无法准确识别废物类型；它的两个新摄像头也分不清我家那只大块头灰白花纹猫和那只小巧的黑白燕尾服猫，经常搞混它们，最后甚至把两只猫合并成了两只一模一样的猫。
我还很失望的是，我无法用摄像头观看我的猫咪拉屎。是的，我很奇怪，但我不是一个人——Litter-Robot 4有一个摄像头支架配件，正是为了这个用途！在结果被处理掉之前，亲眼看看猫砂盆里发生了什么，对很多猫家长来说是宝贵的数据。
虽然前置摄像头会录制猫咪来访的视频，但内部摄像头只提供实时画面；要拍到猫咪正在排泄的瞬间非常难（我只成功拍到过一次）。产品广告暗示你会获得两个摄像头的录像，但即使订阅了月费服务，只有前置摄像头（拍到猫咪进入的画面）会录制内容。Whisker告诉我，看猫拉屎的功能“即将推出”。
摄像头并非完全没用；我确实很感激能远程查看，确认如果收到“循环中断”或检测到障碍物的警报时没有猫咪被困在猫砂盆里——这些功能会在机器旋转时检测到任何活动就停止滚筒转动。
机器人仍然认为我的猫比他实际体重轻；我倒希望我的浴室秤也能这样
只是放置猫砂机器人时一定要非常小心位置。我花了大约一周才意识到，我放的位置让前置摄像头不仅拍到了我猫咪上厕所的画面，还拍到了对面洗手间的任何人。确实有选项可以设置为仅在识别到猫时才开始录制，但——很多猫家长都知道——猫咪喜欢跟着主人进洗手间！
对我来说，5 Pro最大的失望是猫脸识别功能，叫Cat ID。前置摄像头应该能识别是哪只猫进入，然后在App的历史记录中把排泄记录对应到那只猫。它显然最多能追踪五只猫，但它连我这两只长得完全不像的猫都分不清。
用了大约一周后，App会提示你进行PawPrint设置——这是Whisker对面部识别的叫法——它会显示摄像头拍到的你的猫咪的照片，你选择两张最好的——我拍到的都挺糟糕。Whisker确实出售一款29美元的RFID宠物标签，帮助区分长相相似的猫；我的猫不戴项圈，但一款售价900美元、宣传带有面部识别功能的机器，不应该还需要一个可穿戴设备才能区分两只长相不同的猫。
据Whisker称，光线不足和初始成像质量差可能影响摄像头识别，当它不确定时，会使用其他信号（如内置秤）来猜测。显然这就是为什么我13.4磅的Smokey一夜之间“瘦了”2磅——当机器人把他瘦小的弟弟误认为他时，他的体重被记到了Boone名下。
Whisker说我这台机器的粪便感应气体传感器出了问题
机器人也没有自行修正，一周后两只猫的体重仍然显示一样。我知道这是个错误，但错误信息可能导致错误结论，一个猜测猫咪体重的机器人帮不了什么忙。
让一切重回正轨——重置每只猫档案中的体重、重新分配错误的记录、修正视频日志——帮这台近1000美元的机器做好本职工作要耗费大量精力。而且摄像头至今仍然无法正确识别任何一只猫。Whisker说这个系统具有学习能力，所以应该会越来越好。公司还告诉我，他们已经“改进了注册流程，让它对面部识别使用的图像更挑剔”。
然后还有健康监测。除了给猫分配错误的体重之外，WasteID始终无法识别废物类型，而且经常无法提供每次排泄物的重量。
Whisker说我这台机器的粪便感应气体传感器出了问题，他们远程进行了修正。当情况没有改善时，他们判断我这台机器的秤有问题，这可能同时导致了WasteID和PawPrint的问题。这需要更换一台全新机器才能解决。
好消息是：公司最近推出了一个名为Patterns的新功能，在一定程度上提供了我一直在寻找的可操作洞察。它可以汇总每只猫的一天：“昨天Smokey体重12.52磅，使用Litter Robot 1次，总用时0.9分钟，一切在正常范围内”（机器人仍然认为他比实际体重轻；我倒希望我的浴室秤也能这样）。但仍然没有关于废物类型的详细信息。
Patterns以及若干其他改善核心功能的更新，是在产品发布几个月后才推出的——这意味着5 Pro的用户一直在为不好用的功能每月支付8美元。
虽然AI功能显然仍在完善中，但Litter Robot 5 Pro的核心本职工作做得非常好。我对猫砂机器人的体验仅限于这个品牌，之前测试过LR4，但我绝不会回到手动猫砂盆的生活。从每天铲两次屎变成每周清空一次就行。
我的两只猫也很快就接受了它；Smokey直接跳进去就解决了，Boone也跟着照做。不过他年纪小，特别喜欢玩它。我抓到他等着机器循环运转，然后拍打内部来干扰它。他还在一个星期内就把可选的猫砂垫配件给撕碎了。
Litter Robot非常安静，安静到我把它放在女儿房间测试Evo时，她说从来没有因为噪音或气味被吵醒过。不过5 Pro更大、高得多——大约占一个边桌的空间。它同样安静。两款都需要附近有电源插座，但如果你有空间，它绝对值得占据一席之地。
抛开AI不谈，如果你喜欢有个摄像头作为安全功能的想法，并且养着一只大猫（最多30磅）或五只毛孩子，Pro 5会很好地为你服务。不过，我建议你省下100美元，选择普通版Litter Robot 5。它去掉了摄像头，但保留了所有其他功能——包括WasteID。
Whisker对AI的潜在能力过于信任了
如果你不在意WasteID追踪功能，而且最多养四只猫，售价699美元的LR4无需任何AI就能表现出色。我会推荐它而不是最便宜的599美元Evo。除非你真的很缺空间，否则这100美元的差价不值得省；Evo的做工感觉更脆弱，而且不断报错，尤其是幽灵般的顶盖脱落警报。Whisker告诉我这可能是我这台机器特有的硬件问题，所以你的使用体验可能会有所不同。
Litter Robot是一项了不起的发明，但通过5 Pro，Whisker落入了一个我看到很多智能家居公司都会栽跟头的陷阱：它太过相信AI的潜在能力。AI一旦被投入实际使用，表现会和实验室里截然不同。在家庭环境中尤其如此，因为变量无穷无尽。
也许5 Pro最终能实现它在发布时承诺的一切。但正如The Verge的读者们都很清楚的——永远不要因为产品承诺的未来更新而购买它。今天，这个AI还没有准备好。
照片、视频和截图由Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge提供

英文来源：

The greatest invention in pet tech in recent years is the litter robot. A machine that scoops your kitties’ poop so you don’t have to — what else could a cat owner possibly want? How about insights into your kitty’s litter box usage that could flag health issues? Sign me up. But I have two feline friends… No worries, kitty facial recognition can handle that.
Whisker’s AI-powered litter robot thinks my cats swapped bodies
The $899 Litter-Robot 5 Pro is a great pooper-scooper wrapped in AI that just doesn’t work.
Whisker’s AI-powered litter robot thinks my cats swapped bodies
The $899 Litter-Robot 5 Pro is a great pooper-scooper wrapped in AI that just doesn’t work.
At least, that is the idea behind the Litter-Robot 5 Pro, the highest-end model from the OG robotic pooper scooper company Whisker. Boasting a dual camera system and an array of sensors to literally sniff out your cat’s deposits, all wrapped up with AI algorithms and machine learning, the 5 Pro promises to not only deal with my boys’ bathroom habits but also accurately monitor and track them. It failed.
I spent six months testing the $899 Litter-Robot 5 Pro, alongside its budget counterpart, the $599 Litter-Robot Evo, both of which launched late last year. These ingenious devices work using sensors and motors. The cat goes into the large globe lined with litter; the sensors register him while he does his thing, and once he’s left, the robot rotates the drum to filter and sift the waste into the sealed bin below.
This takes away a yucky daily chore; you only have to empty the drawer about once a week, and it hides the gross litter box itself from view, while containing most of the smell. A fully featured app gives you remote control of most of the device’s functions; you can also check the waste and litter levels and see your kitty’s weight thanks to an onboard scale. A litter robot is a great gadget if you travel a lot, as it leaves your kitty with a cleaner place to go during his abandonment.
Whisker currently has four models: the Litter-Robot Evo, the Litter-Robot 4, the Litter-Robot 5, and the 5 Pro. They all work this same way to “scoop.” Today, I wouldn’t recommend paying the premium for the 5 Pro’s AI features — because they just don’t work. I was also disappointed in the tradeoffs that come with the Evo compared to the Litter-Robot 4.
I wouldn’t recommend paying the premium for the 5 Pro’s AI features — because they just don’t work.
There’s no litter-level monitoring on the Evo, so the app doesn’t alert you when it’s low; it supports fewer and smaller cats, has a smaller bin, and no night light. It also doesn’t work with the litter hopper accessory Whisker sells.
While the Evo’s footprint is better for tight spaces, its build quality didn’t feel as sturdy, and its waste drawer is finicky and doesn’t always shut properly. I do like that it has an LCD screen to tell you what it’s doing, as does the 5 Pro. These are both better solutions than the confusing LED indicator lights on the LR4.
As a pooper-scooper, the Litter-Robot 5 Pro dispatches waste superbly. Its bigger bin, more intuitive controls — including that LCD screen — and larger dome make it a better robot overall than its predecessor, the $699 Litter-Robot 4. But the smarts are seriously lacking.
I have a middle-aged fur baby, and the appeal of this significantly more expensive device was the promise it could keep him healthier for longer by catching possible issues earlier. Thankfully, Smokey is currently fit as a fiddle, but in my time using the 5 Pro, its $8-a-month Whisker Plus subscription that covers its AI health features and video storage didn’t deliver one actionable or useful insight.
Its new WasteID system, which purportedly can tell the difference between #1 and #2 and dispatch the latter faster to reduce odors, repeatedly failed to accurately identify waste, and its two new cameras couldn’t tell my large gray and white tabby from my small, sleek tuxedo kitty, getting confused between them and eventually merging them into two identical cats.
I was also disappointed that I couldn’t use the camera to watch my kitty poop. Yes, I’m weird, but I’m also not alone — the Litter-Robot 4 has a camera mount accessory for exactly this reason! Getting an inside look at what’s happening in the litter tray before the results are whisked away is valuable data for many cat parents.
While the front-facing camera records visits, the interior cameras only allow a live view; catching a cat in the act is very hard (I only managed it once). The advertising for the product implies you’ll get recordings from both, but even with the monthly subscription, only the front-facing camera, which catches the kitty coming in, records anything. Whisker tells me the poop-view is coming soon.
The camera wasn’t totally useless; I did appreciate being able to remotely check in and make sure there wasn’t a kitty trapped in the litter box if I received a “cycle interrupted” or an obstruction detected alert, features that stop the globe rotating if there’s any activity detected while the machine is rotating.
The robot still thinks my cat is lighter than he is; I wish my bathroom scale did that
Just be very careful where you place the litter robot. It took me about a week to realize that where I had put mine, the front-facing camera not only caught my kitties’ bathroom trips, but also those of anyone who used the powder room across the hall. There is an option to turn on recording only when a cat is spotted, but — as many cat parents will know — feline friends like to accompany their owners into the bathroom!
For me, the 5 Pro’s biggest letdown was the kitty facial recognition feature, called Cat ID. The front-facing camera is supposed to recognize which cat is entering and then assign any business to that cat in the app’s history section. It can apparently keep track of up to five cats, but it struggled mightily with my two who don’t look a lick alike.
After a week or so of use, the app presents a PawPrint setup option, Whisker’s name for facial recognition, where it shows you images the camera has captured of your cats, and you pick the two best — mine were all fairly bad. Whisker does sell a $29 RFID PetTag to help with cats that look similar; my cats don’t wear collars, but a $900 machine advertising facial recognition shouldn’t need a wearable to tell two different-looking cats apart.
According to Whisker, things like poor lighting and bad initial imaging can throw the camera off, and when it’s not sure, it will use other signals, such as its onboard scale, to guess. All this is apparently why my 13.4-pound Smokey lost 2 pounds overnight, with his weight recorded as Boone’s when the robot mistook his scrawny younger brother for him.
Whisker says my unit’s feces-sensing gas sensor was off
The robot didn’t correct itself either, and a week later both cats were still registering as the same weight. I knew this was an error, but false information can lead to false conclusions, and a robot guessing my cat’s weight is not helpful.
Getting things back on track — resetting the weights in each cat’s profile, reassigning incorrect visits, correcting video logs — was a lot of work to help this nearly $1,000 machine do its job. And the camera still doesn’t correctly recognize either cat. Whisker says the system is built to learn, so it should get better. The company also told me that they have “improved the enrollment process so it’s more selective about the images it uses for facial recognition.”
Then there’s the health monitoring. Beyond assigning the cats the wrong weight, WasteID consistently failed to recognize the type of waste and often couldn’t provide the weight of each deposit.
Whisker says my unit’s feces-sensing gas sensor was off, something they were able to correct it remotely. When that didn’t improve things they determined that my unit’s scale was off, which possibly contributed to both the WasteID and the PawPrint issues. That would require a whole new machine to fix.
The good news: The company recently rolled out a new feature called Patterns that goes some way toward the actionable insights I was looking for. It summarizes each cat’s day: “Yesterday Smokey weighed 12.52 lbs, visited the Litter Robot 1 times and spent .9 minutes in total, everything in range” (The robot still thinks he’s lighter than he is; I wish my bathroom scale did that). But there are still no details here about waste type.
Patterns, along with several other updates to improve the core features, have arrived several months after the product launched — which means 5 Pro owners have been paying $8 a month for features that didn’t work.
While the AI features are clearly still a work in progress, the Litter Robot 5 Pro does its main job very well. My litter robot experience is limited to this brand, having tested the LR4 before, but I would never go back to life with a manual litter box. Instead of scooping twice a day, I just empty once a week.
My cats also both took to it immediately; Smokey jumped right in and did his business, and Boone followed suit. He’s younger, however, and does love to play with it. I’ve caught him waiting for it to cycle, then batting at the inside to throw it off. He also shredded the optional litter mat accessory within a week.
The Litter Robot is amazingly quiet, so much so that I tested the Evo in my daughter’s room, and she said it never woke her up once because of noise or smell. The 5 Pro, however, is bigger and much taller — taking up roughly the same room as a side table. It’s still as quiet. For both, you need an outlet nearby, but if you have the space, it will earn its spot.
AI aside, if you like the idea of having a camera as a safety feature and have a large cat (up to 30lbs) or five furry friends, the Pro 5 will serve you well. However, I suggest you save yourself $100 and go with the regular Litter Robot 5. This ditches the camera but gets you all the other features — including WasteID.
Whisker put too much faith in AI’s potential capabilities
If you don’t care about the WasteID tracking and have up to four kitties, the $699 LR 4 does an excellent job without any AI at all. I’d recommend it over the cheapest model, the $599 Evo. Unless you are really tight on space, this isn’t worth the $100 savings; its build feels flimsier, and it constantly threw off errors, particularly around phantom bonnet detachments. Whisker told me this was likely a hardware error with my particular unit, so your mileage may vary.
The Litter Robot is a fantastic invention, but with the 5 Pro, Whisker has fallen into a trap I’ve seen many smart home companies stumble into; it put too much faith in AI’s potential capabilities. Once AI is out in the wild, it behaves very differently than in the lab. This is especially true in the home, where the variables are endless.
It’s possible the 5 Pro will eventually do everything it promised at launch. But as readers of The Verge know well, never buy a product based on the promised future updates. Today, the AI just isn’t ready.
Photos, video, and screenshots by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge