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Amazon’s Astro Robot is Straight Out of the Jetsons

posted by martyb on Wednesday September 29 2021, @03:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the more-like-"Big-Brother"-on-wheets dept.

upstart writes:

Amazon’s Astro robot is straight out of The Jetsons:

Amazon is rolling out (literally) a robot that can help monitor your home. Powered by Amazon Alexa and a bunch of artificial intelligence (AI) technology while patrolling about on a set of wheels, the Astro robot can handle numerous tasks, from providing a view of inside the home when you’re out to delivering a message to Mom.

The robot carries the same name as the dog from The Jetsons, but its simple face, rolling mechanism and, of course, advanced tech, make it much more similar to Rosey. Amazon's Astro relies on AI, sensors, computer vision, and voice and edge computing to perform various workloads.

For example, Astro can roll around your home and give you a live view of what it sees. That means you can check on your pet, look out for intruders, or make sure you turned the oven off. Astro is mobile thanks to a technology Amazon has dubbed Intelligent Motion. It uses simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) to ensure Astro makes its way around without crashing into stuff—even if someone forgot something on the floor that wasn’t there before.

[...] Astro will ultimately be available for $1,449.99. However, there’s a $999.99 introductory price as part of Amazon’s Day 1 Editions early access program, and that includes a six-month trial of Ring Protect Pro. Amazon plans to start inviting participants to buy Astro in the US “later this year.”

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Wednesday September 29 2021, @12:03PM (1 child)

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Wednesday September 29 2021, @12:03PM (#1182701)

    "Amazon is rolling out (literally) a robot that can help monitor your home."

    Is there still anyone left on this planet that does not read that as meaning Amazon is the one doing the monitoring, not the consumer?

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday September 29 2021, @01:20PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 29 2021, @01:20PM (#1182716) Journal

    Amazon is not trying to spy on you. Amazon is trying to provide helpful gadgets. Just check this out . . .

    Amazon’s indoor camera drone is ready to fly around your house [arstechnica.com]

    Next up: cameras. Amazon's crazy indoor, flying drone camera—the ambiguously named "Ring Always Home Cam"—is actually for sale now in the US. This was announced a full year ago, but now it's available "exclusively by invitation" for $249.99. This is a "Day 1 Edition" (read: a beta product). So Amazon isn't letting just anyone buy it. You can request an invitation to give Amazon money on the product page.

    In a nutshell, it's an IoT flying indoor drone with sound and camera pickup and has a base station for recharging.

    How cool is that!?! Without disturbing you, this drone can unobtrusively fly around your home making sure everything is okay.

    Dear Amazon,
    Instead of a flying drone in my home, I would prefer you sell me more different IoT gadgets that are stationery and don't fly, but which also have mic and camera pickups. For my protection, of course.
    Thank you! May I have another?

    --
    If a lazy person with no education can cross the border and take your job, we need to upgrade your job skills.