Amazon Robot Astro: The future is here! Amazon’s new Astro robot is rolling around homes with Disney’s voice assistant. The $1,000 Astro robot can patrol your home as well as have eyes on the screen and even cup holders!
David Limp from Amazon said he sees this as a way to help give peace of mind for families, helping them interact and check in on older family members. It will arrive by the end of the year only for US customers.
It’s not just an Alexa on wheels, Limp said. It has eyes on the screen and even cup holders, because why not.
Limp said it’s designed for “privacy at every turn,” with out-of-bounds zones built in. You can turn on a “do not disturb” setting to minimize how much Astro moves day or night. Amazon also built the device to do as much computing in its body as possible, rather than relying on an internet connection.
This feature is expected to launch next year and will let users interact with Disney characters at home. Users can say “Hey, Disney!” command to interact.
Every year, Amazon usually introduces a number of new products, including voice-controlled sunglasses and an in-home drone, but none of them have proven to be big sales.
Amazon Robot Astro, Limp said the product took four years to make, and a lot of it was coming up with a way for the device to map a person’s home, understand what it sees, and still move autonomously.
Why is this good news? A new wave of “smart” devices are entering homes that bring convenience but also security concerns.
The ability of these robots to interact with others makes them very upcoming technology! As more companies build voice assistants like Amazon and Google will we see even smarter smart-home products such as Astro enter our lives? How does this affect society at large? Only time will tell…
Read More: Google’s parent company Alphabet to Launch Robotics Firm Under its other Units
