PETKIT’s Purobot Max Pro 2 may sound like AI gimmick for cat owners, but after 2-month use, its camera, cat recognition, weight monitoring and impressive odor control make it one of the most advanced automatic litter boxes to reach IsraelA smart litter box with an internal camera sounds like one of the more absurd ideas to come out of the AI boom in recent years. After all, who exactly wants to watch their cat do its business in HD? But after two months with PETKIT’s Purobot Max Pro 2, I found that, unlike quite a few “smart” pet gadgets, this one is much more than a gimmick.The automatic litter box market has long become a crowded battleground of products that mostly look the same: a rotating drum, an app, several sensors and plenty of promises about less odor and less cleaning. The Purobot Max Pro 2 tries to stand out with an internal AI camera, separate recognition for each cat, weight monitoring and a new design meant to be more comfortable even for larger cats.4 View gallery Purobot Max Pro 2 litter box. In practice, it is best suited for one cat that is not too large(Photo: PETKIT)I will start with what is, for me, the most important issue when it comes to automatic litter boxes, and one that worries many cat owners: safety. Automatic litter boxes, especially those with a rotating mechanism, can look a little intimidating at first. But with the Purobot Max Pro 2, PETKIT appears to have done a very good job.The litter box’s sensor system detects almost immediately when a cat approaches, enters or even just peers into the opening, and any cleaning or rotation action stops at once. Throughout the testing period, I did not encounter a single instance in which the box continued operating when one of the cats came near it. That definitely adds a sense of reassurance, especially in homes with several particularly curious cats.The entrance to the Purobot Max Pro 2 is large and comfortable, but the inner space is actually relatively small and enclosed. My two fairly large cats, weighing 7.5 and 8.4 kgs, got used to the box quite quickly and found an angle that worked well for them, but it seemed a little cramped. For average-sized cats, the box will likely be a much better fit.One of the litter box’s biggest advantages came from the least expected place: its internal surface. Instead of plastic or silicone, PETKIT chose a flexible textured surface that feels almost like fabric.4 View gallery PETKIT Purobot Max Pro 2 litter box(Photo: Daniela Ginzburg)The surface is easy to remove, put back in place and wash. Feces and urine barely stick to it, clumps come off easily, and odors remain under much better control than I expected. The drawer with the waste bag also slides out easily and is easy to empty.Overall, the box is designed so that almost every part can be removed and cleaned separately, something you will need to do every two weeks to a month, depending on how many cats use it and how often. The unit is also easy to disassemble and reassemble, making routine cleaning straightforward even for users with little technical experience.Odor control is also one of the Purobot Max Pro 2’s strongest points. The side drawer that holds the bag for clumps and waste is well sealed and includes a shelf for PETKIT’s odor neutralizer, sold separately.If you are especially sensitive to smells, or if the litter box is placed in your living room, as it was in my case, there is another odor-neutralizing mechanism that releases fragrance into the main litter area on command. Both mechanisms work very well, though they run out after about a month and need to be replaced.4 View gallery Accessories included with the litter box: fragrance unit and odor neutralizer, waste bags, kitten guard and litter rake(Photo: Daniela Ginzburg)The N50 odor neutralizer and N60 fragrance unit can be bought from the importer's store, and can also be ordered from AliExpress. That said, I did not feel the need to reorder them after the ones supplied with the box ran out. If you maintain the box according to the instructions and use high-quality clumping litter, it remains impressively sealed and odor-free even without them.The mera, which initially seems like a gimmick, turns out to be more useful than it appears. If you have several cats at home, you can check which cat entered the box and when, see whether a certain cat is using the box less often, identify whether one of them has suspiciously lost weight, and even detect whether a cat’s urine has become too acidic, which may indicate a health problem if it happens repeatedly.Facial recognition takes time before it truly begins distinguishing between the cats, and it can occasionally make mistakes, but most of the time it works fairly well. The litter box’s sensor system also includes a microphone designed to detect meowing after a cat uses the box, which could also point to a health issue.PETKIT’s app is convenient and easy to use, and includes a relatively wide range of operating options for the litter box. You can set cleaning and fragrance schedules (after each use or once a day), switch to energy-saving mode, activate a light that turns on whenever a cat enters the box and more.4 View gallery The camera successfully distinguished between the two cats that used the litter box(Screenshot: Daniela Ginzburg)Of course, not everything is free. PETKIT offers a service called PETKIT Care+, which comes in three plans: Free, Basic and Premium. The free plan includes continuous 1080p live streaming, smart alerts and playback speed control, but it sharply limits access to video history.For example, users can view only one day of short summary clips, receive full recordings for just 30 seconds per day, and meow detection is also limited to 30 seconds. Recording playback quality is also limited to standard definition. Paid plans offer more days of summary clips, full-day recording access and HD playback.In practice, the free plan should be enough for owners of healthy cats who mainly want real-time monitoring and basic alerts. However, the history limit makes it less useful for anyone who wants to monitor a cat’s behavior over time, especially if the cat is older or ill.Ultimately, the real test of an automatic litter box is not its AI capabilities or app features, but whether it actually makes dealing with litter, odors and cleaning easier. In the case of the Purobot Max Pro 2, it absolutely does. It is not perfect. Its internal structure may still be a little small for some larger cats, the AI mechanisms are not 100% accurate, and the fact that some of the more advanced features require a monthly subscription is somewhat annoying. Even so, after two months of use, it is very hard to go back to a regular litter box.The combination of efficient automatic cleaning, excellent odor control, a well-designed app and features that genuinely provide value for cat owners, along with a price tag of around 2,000 shekels (about $700), about half the price of its main competitor, makes the Purobot Max Pro 2 a very easy product to recommend.