Amazon Astro, a household robot

Astro. © Amazon.

Amazon introduced Astro, its robot, which has long fed rumors. It moves around your house on its three wheels, and is equipped with the Alexa assistant, of course. Astro can do a wide variety of things you might expect from a home robot. Like a Roomba vacuum, it maps your home and obeys commands to go to a room. It recognizes faces and delivers items to a specific person. It plays music, shows you the weather, and answers your questions just like any Echo smart display. It’s handy for video calls, always keeping you in the frame by following your every movement. It roams your house when you’re not around to check on things. Like a robot vacuum cleaner, Astro has a charging station where it automatically docks.

To start, the robot will go on the market for 1,000 USD and sell “by invitation” only. You register to perhaps have the chance to buy the device. Arguably, Amazon is doing this so as not to produce too many devices that might not sell. A flop is by no means excluded, as the media’s initial reaction is tinged with deep skepticism about the usefulness of the device, especially given the price. Evan Ackerman, in IEEE Spectrum, writes: “I recognize that it seems premature to be so pessimistic about it, but I really feel like we’re looking at just another home robot without a really useful and compelling application.” Astro is expected to hit the market this year, though there is no specific launch date yet.

⇨ YouTube, “Introducing Amazon Astro – Household robot for home monitoring, with Alexa.”

⇨ YouTube, “The Science Behind Astro | Amazon Astro.”

⇨ The Verge, Dan Seifert, “Say hello to Astro, Alexa on wheels.”

⇨ IEEE Spectrum, Evan Ackerman, “Amazon’s Astro is a mobile Alexa and cup holder that costs $1k.”

2021-09-29