Say hello to Astro, Amazon’s new household robot, which made its first appearance at Amazon’s fall hardware event on Tuesday.
Astro is roughly two feet high and weighs about 20 pounds, with cute doe eyes and a bin-like body. Thanks to five motors, it has the ability to move in 360 degrees, forward, back, or any direction it pleases, and can literally follow you around the house at a top speed of one meter per second. (Stairs remain an impassable hurdle, unfortunately)
Its “face” is a 10-inch touchscreen lifted off an Echo Show 10, and there’s a built-in periscope camera that expands its view to see over obstacles. This way, it can check if the stove is turned off and spy on your cat who’s snoozing on the top-most shelf. It can also recognize faces and obey voice commands, and there’s a payload area in the rear that can carry up to 4.4lbs (2kg) of cargo. So yes, the rumor that this robot can fetch you an iced beer is true. Only, you’d still have to take out the beer yourself, since Astro doesn’t have any arms.
Besides beatboxing and serving as your butler, here’s what Amazon says Astro can do:
-Patrol your home for safety
Astro is integrated with Alexa Guard, an Amazon security feature that uses Alexa microphones to listen for noises when you’re away. It can detect the sound of a smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector or breaking glass. It will send you notifications when it notices something usual, and you can save what it records to your Ring account.
-Keep an eye on loved ones
Astro can look for an elderly person and provide status notifications to their caregivers. Routines can be programmed where it will remind the person to take medication or check their blood pressure when they need to. The Astro will also be integrated into the new Alexa Together service, which provides access to an emergency helpline and support for fall detection devices.
-Provide portable Alexa experience
Amazon sees the Astro as the next level of how Alexa can integrate into your home. You can have it play music and podcasts while you do chores, ask it set reminders, timers, or take a photo, use it for video calling through Alexa’s calling service, and do all the other things an Echo Show can do.
Astro will also respect your privacy, according to Amazon. The bot incorporates Alexa’s standard privacy features, and owners will be able to denote no-go zones for Astro, and will be able to take advantage of do-not-disturb features to minimize how much Astro moves at certain times of day.
Amazon plans to sell Astro in limited quantities later this year. While it will eventually cost $1,449.99, as part of its Day 1 Editions program, the company will sell the robot at an introductory price of $999.99. Each Astro will come with six months of complimentary access to Ring Protect Pro.
The company is also pledging a long-term commitment to robots, promising there’ll be more to come, with Astro 2 already in the works.
Check out the video below to learn more about Astro, cute robo assistant and defender-of-homes-against-rogue-raccoons.