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Amazon to Launch its First Houserobot, Astro
The robot works in sync with Alexa to respond to voice commands, and will launch in the US later this year.
As well as acting as a safeguard to homes, Amazon‘s new robot seems to do just enough, functionality-wise, to move it beyond the realm of a gimmick.
Astro syncs to Ring security products, patrolling the house, able to report anything suspicious.
It also has an extendable periscope camera, enabling it to check things above its diminutive height. For example, think you’ve left the stove on – take manual remote control of Astro wherever you are and use the camera to check.
The robot can also play music and tv through its ‘face’, although the media aspect won’t help sway detractors who feel this is simply ‘Alexa on wheels’.
Proving that those people are idiots, Astro can beatbox – with full headbopping – and, in its most earth shattering-feature, can carry drinks and snacks.
Amazon was also keen to pre-empt privacy concerns inherent in a robot that stalks your home watching and recording everything. It said Astro can be set with “out of bounds” zones, so it cannot go into certain areas, or could be set to “do not disturb”.
It also features buttons to turn off cameras and microphones – though it loses its ability to move around when they are switched off.
Amazon’s senior vice-president of devices and services, Dave Limp, said the firm’s latest gadgets were the “next big leaps forward” and showcased “science fiction becoming reality”.
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The e-commerce giant hopes to release Astro later in the year to customers in the US for $1000 (£740).
Chief analyst at CCS Insight, Ben Wood, said Astro was a “bold move”.
“Unlike rivals such as Apple, Amazon is willing to bring highly experimental products to market and assess consumer reaction,” he said.
“Amazon has shown it has the discipline to either evolve a product, as it did with the Echo, or abandon it, as it did with Fire Phone.
“The Astro robot follows other products including the Ring Always Home Camera – a mini-drone that acts as an indoor flying security camera – which are experimental and limited to the US market but take the company into new territory.
“Offering products resembling something from a science fiction novel positions Amazon as an innovative company in the eyes of consumers and investors.
“Furthermore, if it stumbles upon a successful category, it secures the first-mover advantage.
However, Mr Wood conceded that Astro could be a “lightning conductor” in the debate around privacy, adding that this could be “the litmus test for convenience versus privacy”.
