Amazon Touts Its First Home Robot as More Than Just ‘Alexa on Wheels’

Amazon’s first “household robot,” called Astro, is a miniature autonomous vehicle for the home, debuting in limited quantities later this year at $999, said the company in a promotional video briefing that aired Tuesday. Amazon saved Astro for last in an hourlong prerecorded roadshow that previewed various device updates and remote elder-care monitoring and smart home services. New for 2022 is the Hey, Disney! voice assistant from Disney that will work alongside Alexa on supported Echo devices and let kids and families interact with characters from the Disney, Pixar and Star Wars franchises.

“Often it’s the dreamers, the people who write science fiction, who are decades ahead of the builders,” said David Limp, Amazon senior vice president-devices and service, of the Astro introduction. Amazon believes every home in five to 10 years “will have at least one robot,” he said. Astro integrates Alexa functionality with that of “advanced hardware,” software, “computer vision” and AI in “a brand new way,” he said. Astro illustrates how “ambient computing can improve customers’ lives in a way that traditional consumer electronics just can’t.” Astro was the name of the family dog on the animated 1960s sitcom The Jetsons. Rosie was the name of the family's robotic housekeeper. Amazon didn't comment on the name choice.

Limp has had Astro in his home for about a year, he said. “Even in homes as Alexafied as mine, there’s still lots of things my home can’t do because my devices are stationary,” he said. “This robot changes all of that.” An owner can send Astro and its “live view” feature throughout the home “to check on specific rooms, things, people, even pets,” he said.

A “periscope” function on top of the robot expands its camera’s field of view to capture surfaces like countertops several feet off the floor, said Limp. Pairing Astro with the Ring Protect Pro security system lets users remotely manipulate the robot to “patrol” their homes for suspicious activity when they are away, he said, with an “option to save these videos to your Ring account.”

Amazon learned “early on” in the Astro development program “that customers don’t just want Alexa on wheels,” said Limp. “To that end, we’ve embodied him with a unique persona, from adding eyes to the display to a whole host of sounds,” he said. “The device really comes alive.”

With a new device like Astro, “we had to think of privacy at every turn,” said Limp. In addition to the privacy settings on existing Echo devices, customers “can set up out-of-bounds zones to denote areas where they don’t want Astro to go,” he said. “You can also turn on do not disturb, which will minimize how much Astro moves during certain times of the day or night.”

AI processors embedded in the robot “allow for as much edge computing as possible,” said Limp. “Everyday life is messy. Floor plans vary. Furniture comes in different shapes and sizes.” Humans and pets “can block Astro’s path, and unlike roads, your house doesn’t have lines or maps that help with navigation,” he said.

Amazon’s Astro development team “had to solve for all of that, inventing an entirely new technology construct” that integrates “autonomous movement, home mapping, visual understanding and more,” he said. “We had to leverage AI in so many new ways, including using deep neural learning to map anchor points throughout the home, and building new dynamic slam algorithms that are constantly refreshing,” bringing Astro to a hard stop before the robot can fall down the basement stairs, he said.