Astro is Amazon’s new home-monitoring robot that can set up reminders, turn on TV shows, control smart devices and even alert homeowners who are away about possible break-ins or fires.
Astro, who is not a dog, will initially cost $999.99 and will be available as a Day 1 Edition product that you can request an invite for the privilege of buying.
Amazon sees the latest invention as a way of bringing many different aspects of the company together – AI, home monitoring, cloud services and robotics, all engineered into one neat robotic-dog-resembling product. In a nutshell, Astro is designed to be the next step in the quest of creating an inevitable home robot.
What Can Astro Do?
Amazon’s new capable and smart ‘homebot’ can do an array of impressive things.
For starters, it can map (not mop, unfortunately) your floor plan and follow voice commands, bringing the benefits of Alexa into a mobile assistant that can follow you around like a shadow on wheels.
Astro can recognise faces and deliver items to a specific person. It’s also able to play music, show you the weather and answer questions similar to any Echo smart display.
Amazon’s Astro is the perfect addition to your work-from-home office as it can be used for video calls and constantly keep you in the frame by following your movements.
When you’re not home, Astro can roam your home and make sure everything is okay. If you’re out and have an inkling that you may have left the stove on, Astro can raise its periscope camera to show you whether or not you’ve turned off the stove.
Astro can also use third-party accessories to record data like blood pressure.
Can Astro Go Up Stairs?
As ambitious and advanced as Astro is, there are still a handful of things it can’t do, such as:
- Go outside
- Climb stairs
- Clean your floors
Sure, Astro is a major step forward in technological advancement and home assistance, but it still has a lot to figure out. Think of it as a stab at what a home assistant robot could be.
With Amazon pledging a long-term commitment to robots, Astro 2 is already in the works. Hopefully the next iteration can not only map your floor plan, but mop it too.
