What happened to the Moorebot Scout?

A few years ago, the Moorebot Scout was one of the more exciting projects on Kickstarter: a small, compact robotic vehicle equipped with a camera, microphone, and night vision, intended to patrol the home as a smart sentry. Either autonomously or controlled via smartphone or tablet, with a futuristic look and omnidirectional Mecanum wheels, the concept sounded like science fiction at home.

I was one of the early backers and received my unit after some waiting time. But the initial excitement quickly turned into disillusionment. What became of this ambitious project – and what does the successor, which has since been released, actually offer?

Futuristic Design Meets Real-World Limitations

Visually, the Moorebot Scout is quite something: the mechanical build feels solid, and the design resembles a mini rover straight out of a sci-fi movie. The Mecanum wheels are real eye-catchers, allowing the robot to move in all directions – including sideways.

Technically, however, the little robot quickly reveals its weaknesses. While many smart household devices today use SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) to map their environment and navigate with precision, the Moorebot lacks this feature entirely. It only stores a rough path – nothing more.

This becomes a problem especially on smooth floors like parquet or tiles, where the wheels tend to slip. The calculated distances then no longer match, and the Scout often misses its charging station or completely loses orientation. In day-to-day use, this often resulted in the robot stranding somewhere in the living room.

They promised lots of features at CES and most of them were not present in the finished product. — droidyouarelookingfor

Missing Updates and Stalled Development

Another downside: the promised software updates came slowly – or not at all. There were announcements about new features, such as SLAM integration or AI capabilities, but in reality, most of them never materialized. The option to develop your own applications via SDK was only minimally supported.

By now, things have gone quiet around the developers. The official website appears mostly abandoned, many accessories in the shop are marked as “sold out.” There is no sign of new firmware or significant further development. The community, which initially exchanged experiences and hacks on Reddit and forums, has also fallen silent.

The Moorebot Scout from its own perspective. Photo: Screenshot Scout APP, author

Toy or Security Solution?

For a while, the company tried to upgrade the Moorebot Scout with various accessories: rubber tracks for better grip, a cat toy attachment with a feather for pet entertainment, and even a small shovel could be added.

But ultimately, these accessories only reinforced the impression that the Moorebot is more of a toy than a serious security gadget. Its actual task – reliable surveillance and autonomy – was never fulfilled. Even simple tasks like a scheduled patrol through several rooms often failed due to inaccurate navigation or technical malfunctions.

Ray of Hope: The Scout E?

With the “Scout E,” the company released a revised version of the robot. At first glance, this version appears more robust: it uses classic tracks instead of wheels and supposedly also offers AI-based features.

However, doubts remain here too: initial user reports mention similar problems with navigation. The supposedly “AI-supported” control apparently only performs simple pattern recognition via camera, not actual learning systems. Integration into existing smart home systems is still limited.

The high price – combined with the known weaknesses – makes it difficult to see the Scout E as a true step forward from its predecessor.

For Tinkerers Only?

A bright spot is that the Moorebot is based on the open-source framework ROS (Robot Operating System). Advanced users can gain root access via USB and install their own software. This even allows for integration of external sensors or experimentation with custom navigation solutions.

But this is not for the average user. Anyone not deeply familiar with robotics will quickly run into technical limitations – and cannot rely on official support.

An Open-Ended Conclusion

The Moorebot Scout started with big promises and lots of attention. But reality showed that a good concept alone is not enough – reliable technology, ongoing maintenance, and an active community are equally important. Over the years, all of that fell by the wayside.

Whether we can expect any innovation from the manufacturer in the future is uncertain. The last updates are long ago, the successor brings little new to the table, and the brand seems to have fallen into a deep slumber.

For tech enthusiasts, the Moorebot Scout remains an interesting piece of robotics history – a gadget with great potential that ultimately failed to deliver.