|
Listen to this article
 |
Amazon’s Astro robot is an Alexa device on wheels. | Credit: Amazon
The rumors were true. Amazon has been working on a home robot for years. And Ryan Hickman, who founded the cloud robotics team at Google in 2010, couldn’t have been more spot on with his prediction.
Amazon today finally unveiled Astro, which is essentially an Echo Show 10 on wheels. In 2018, Hickman offered up his reasons for why an Alexa on wheels made the most sense. Apparently Amazon agreed.
Amazon said Astro can be used for a variety of things, including home monitoring, videoconferencing with family and friends, entertaining children, and all of the same features we’ve come to know and love from Alexa devices – listen to music, check your schedule, etc. Astro can map your home and go to specific rooms on command. The voice-controllable robot can recognize faces, deliver items to specific people, after a human puts the item in the storage bin, and use third-party accessories to, for example, record blood pressure. It can detect the sound of a smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector or breaking glass. If you have a Ring account, Astro can send you notifications if it notices something unusual.
Astro is two feet tall and weighs 20 lb. Its main drive wheels are about 12 inches in diameter, and Astro’s top speed is 3.3 feet per second. The screen is similar to that of an Echo Show 10, and the robot uses a 5-megapixel video calling camera.
Later this year, Amazon will sell a limited number of Astros. After an introductory price of $999.99, Astro’s price will increase to $1,449.99.
Will things be different this time?
Haven’t we been down this road already? We’ve seen several multipurpose home robots crash and burn over the years. Anki, Blue Frog Robotics, Jibo, and Mayfield Robotics are a few that immediately come to mind. These companies suffered from a number of issues, but the main challenges were pricing, performance, and funding.
While access to financial support shouldn’t be a problem for Astro, cost-performance and privacy very well could be. It can’t go up and down stairs. It doesn’t have arms to pick up and transport items. It has limited storage capacity. It can’t go outside. It won’t deter an intruder who’s already in a house. And its functionality is limited for users who don’t subscribe to other Amazon smart home products such as Ring.
As I’ve said before, that’s a lot of money to be able to check the weather, play your favorite tunes, or FaceTime with grandma. Amazon has sold millions of Echo devices at much cheaper prices. At press time, an Echo Show 5 can be purchased for just $45. Sure it doesn’t have all the latest bells and whistles, but I could buy 32 of those Echo 5s and place them throughout my home for the same price as 1 Astro robot.
Amazon said it is keeping privacy in mind with Astro. Users can turn off mics, cameras, and motion with one press of a button and set “out of bounds zones” to keep the robot out of certain rooms. Of course, Amazon has said this for other products in the past, but privacy issues persist.
The engineering and overall product development from Amazon will certainly be better than the aforementioned consumer robots. And Astro has access to a vast network of Amazon-related content and smart home devices that could turn it into a smart home controller for certain users, too. This is a major factor Buddy, Cozmo, Jibo, and Kuri lacked.
But will that be enough? The most successful consumer robot to date remains a single-purpose home robot: the Roomba. Multipurpose home robots have never been able to crack the code. I hope I’m wrong, but Astro’s likely to have the same fate. Despite spending many years, and likely a ridiculous amount of money, Amazon is limiting the sales of Astro. So it too doesn’t seem too confident in Astro’s future.
There are lots of Americans who have Google instead of Alexa will it work with Google in the same manner also there’s so many simple things that could have been included on Echo. It should be able to look up data take notes calculations look up information on the internet and show you your photos calculate where to eat all of that should be available on this one robot to make it a efficient for a household. Upgrade on this unit should be acceptable without cost to the new owners because of the risks they are taking.
The first thing I thought was: Jibo. Similar intent, same limitations, probably the same fate.
I already have a smartphone that fits in my pocket and goes everywhere I go, including outside.
Until Astro can climb stairs and open doors, it’s a (very) limited toy that solves few new problems. Just buy a second Echo.
I have been a robotics hobbyist since 1982. We all have seen dozens of robots like Astro enter the market and unceremoniously wither and die. With Amazon’s backing, Astro has an opportunity to grow into a true consumer robot, but it is not there now. This potentially useful bot should be targeted at the hobbyist market. There are a lot of bright makers, hackers, and post-grad and grad students out here that would love to pay $1K for an open robotic platform that can map and navigate your home; as well as, self-charge at its charging station. As with the early quads/drones, it took several years for the hobbyist community to help define the drones niche, accustom the general public to the thought of and acceptance of a real-world flying robot (as opposed to the mythical Star wars drone). The early quad makers like DJI made their Drones modifiable (at first). If Amazon wants to enter the home general-purpose robot market, Amazon must accept the fact that several steps are required. Market to the maker and hobbyist communities, provide an Astro API (preferably Python or JavaScript but C works, ROS does not work!). Give us at least one port to access hardware status and to connect our Arduinos, Raspberry Pi, Android phones, or Laptops Mac/Win. We will in turn help Amazon create, market, and sell a robot that the average household would want. A robot with functional capabilities and limitations that would be understood and accepted by many normal households.
An old Hackers thoughts
The MiRo has been in production for over six years and is now in its third iteration – we find a key feature is its emotional engagement with people of all ages.
We are learning plenty about this space and most of our custom is with university researchers who do want a flexible platform with a multitude of sensors and many degrees of freedom.
Although we do sell into education with our MiRoCloud we will not sell to consumers…Yet.
Sadly I am inclined to agree. This was the best they can do? ZERO innovation, what a disappointment