At first, it might seem frivolous to put a full-color LCD at the back of a power drill. We mean, what are you going to do with it, watch a five-second TikTok video while you bore a hole into the wall? Fortunately, the folks behind the Robbox xDrill had much smarter ideas about what to put on that rear display.
Designed to do much more than your ordinary power drill, the tool integrates laser measuring, digital leveling, and all sorts of intelligent controls, all of which can be accessed using that full-color touchscreen display in the back. So yeah, this drill is actually putting that rear screen to good use, making it much more than a novelty addition to a longstanding staple of everyone’s toolbox.
The Robbox xDrill can be used like any power drill. There’s a chuck that accepts interchangeable bits, a switch that makes it go forward or backward, and a lever on top for adjusting speed from 2000 RPM to 600 RPM and vice versa, so you can skip all the fancy features if you just want to use it to quickly drive some screws or drill a hole to put a hook in. That means, your dad who hates messing with newfangled technology can still borrow it without getting tripped up by being forced to mess with that confusing touchscreen in the back.
Of course, the whole selling point for this drill is that newfangled technology, which might make it more useful for novice handymen who have not quite figured out all the little tricks of the fixing-your-own-home trade. Key to all that is the touchscreen in the rear, which allows you to run through the menu to access any of the special capabilities available. This includes a digital leveling tech that uses an onscreen leveler to visually illustrate whether you’re pushing the drill straight ahead. When drilling at an angle, you can position the drill and double tap the screen to trigger the “custom angle leveling,” which records that angle and uses the onscreen leveler to help you drill at that same angle each time out.
The Robbox xDrill also has two integrated lasers: one on top and one at the bottom. This allows it to measure the distance between the floor and the sidewall, allowing it to guide you exactly on which sections to drill based on the first hole you bore, making it easy to evenly space drill points without having to bust out the measuring tape and pencil. The laser on top, by the way, can be moved to either face left, right, or directly out front. When facing forwards, it can measure how deep you’re drilling into the wall, so you won’t ever drill too shallow or too deep at any point. And yes, you can use it like a regular laser measure if you don’t have access to one.
Lastly, the drill can be set to custom speed/torque settings using the touchscreen, so you can set it between the minimum 600 RPM and the maximum 2000 RPM, with an option to let the device decide the torque setting on its own by select the material you’re drilling and the drill bit size. Other features include a brushless digital motor, an ergonomic handle, a 21-volt rechargeable battery rated at 45 minutes of operation, and a weight of just 3.5 pounds.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Robbox xDrill. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at $297.