Amazon introduced new gadgets and services, including the Astro home robot with cameras and a screen.
In size and appearance, the Astro home robot resembles a vacuum cleaner: it has two large wheels in the front and one passive in the back.
But at the front is a tablet-sized screen that can swivel and tilt. The robot's face is displayed on the screen - two animated eyes in the form of circles.
When talking to a human, Astro uses the screen to mimic, and also emits electronic sounds, a bit reminiscent of the way R2D2 communicates from Star Wars.
The screen also displays the current status of the robot like “looking around the room”. It can also be used for video calls.
In general, the robot can be described as a hybrid of a smart speaker with all its functions and a moving camera.
It scans the rooms in the house, so it can always be sent to a specific place, for example, remotely via a smartphone ask to go to the kitchen and check if the stove is turned off
The robot will come to the right place by itself, pull out a telescopic place and show the video from the camera.
You can also leave him to patrol the house. It will drive around and, upon any suspicious sounds, will find their source and notify the owner
The robot can also recognize strangers (it can recognize faces and remember his owners).
While driving, it recognizes obstacles and avoids them, although in fact, the robot does a poor job at this task, as well as with face recognition.
In addition to its own functions, the robot has a USB-C port to which additional tools can be connected in the future.
It is located in the rear cargo compartment, in which you can put things and ask the robot to take them to another place.
However, it cannot unload them on its own, so this function is needed rather to transfer something to another person in the house.
Astro will initially be sold by invitation only. The cost for this option will be $ 1,000, and the first deliveries will begin at the end of the year.
Then sales will open to everyone, but the cost will rise to $ 1,450.
The company has also now opened a call for applications for the autonomous home camera drone, which it first showed at last year's launch.
Source:
- Amazon: