| Astro | |
| Inventor: | Amazon |
| Manufacturer: | Amazon |
| Country: | U.S. |
| Year Of Creation: | 2021 |
| Price: |
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| Type: | Domestic robot |
| Purpose: | Home monitoring, virtual assistant |
Amazon Astro, often shortened to Astro, is a home robot developed by Amazon.com, Inc. It was designed for home security monitoring, remote care of elderly relatives, and as a virtual assistant that can follow a person from room to room.[1]
Tom's Guide called the device "Alexa on wheels" and everything available on the Amazon Echo Show 10 is on this new device. The Astro has visual ID and should be able to recognize different family members and send an alert if the device sees someone it does not recognize in the home.[2]
In 2022, Amazon announced a pilot program connecting Astro to the Ring security system, allowing workers in a remote call centre to control Astro to investigate security alerts.[3] [4]
| Processors | 2× Qualcomm QCS605;[5] 1× Qualcomm SDA660;[6] 1× Amazon AZ1 Neural Edge | |
| Display | 10.1-inch touchscreen, 1280 × 800 resolution | |
| Cameras | 1× 5MP bezel camera; 1× 1080p periscope camera with 132° diagonal field of view; vision in both visible and infrared light[7] | |
| Speakers | 2× 55 mm front-firing speakers, 1× passive bass radiator | |
| Battery | Lithium-ion | |
| Connectivity | USB-C; WiFi 802.11ac; Bluetooth | |
| Dimensions | 16.7 in. L × 9.8 in. W × 17.3 in. H (424 mm × 250 mm × 440 mm) | |
| Weight | 20.6 lbs (9.35 kg) |
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg News says that, six months after its release, hardly anyone was talking about Astro online, and that Amazon had shipped only a few hundred units, at most.[8] David Priest of CNET observes that "For now, this robot remains a luxury item, for people with a lot of money to try out a cutting-edge technology that still lacks a compelling use case."[9] Lauren Goode of Wired magazine labels Astro as "a robot for the sake of a robot" and "a robot without a cause, at least for now".[10]
The announcement in September 2022 that Astro would function as a security guard connected to Ring security devices for homes and small businesses[11] led Gizmodo to comment on the increasing "creepiness" of Astro.[12]