Household robots are considered the next big thing in the smart home. Amazon is now taking the first step with the Astro, a kind of rolling tablet with a camera. It is suitable for video chats and as a mobile surveillance system.
Amazon wants to become a pioneer in household robots. The online retailer presented a device called Astro on Tuesday – it has a screen, can capture its surroundings with a camera and microphone and moves around the house on wheels.
“We believe that in five to ten years every household will have at least one robot,” said Amazon’s equipment manager Dave Limp. Until then, the group also wants to expand its strong position in the networked home with new devices and functions for its voice assistant Alexa.
The astro robot can mainly be used for communication and as a kind of mobile security system. The device, which is roughly the size of a vacuum cleaner, can also accompany older family members through the house, for example. The data required to navigate through a home is completely processed on the device and does not go to the cloud, as Amazon emphasized. Permanent complex calculations are necessary so that the robot recognizes obstacles and, for example, does not fall down stairs.
He himself tested Astro at home for about a year, said Limp. With the help of the device, for example, he can check whether his dogs are jumping on the sofa when they are not at home. The robot’s camera can be extended to a height of a good one meter so that it can also look over pieces of furniture. A year ago, Amazon presented a small drone that can fly through the house as a security camera.
The group wants to initially make the astro robots available to selected users at a price of around $ 1,000. Other companies are also currently working on household robots – and are also thinking about machines with gripper arms that could take on simple tasks.
Meanwhile, Amazon wants to establish its “Echo” loudspeakers with the help of a model with a larger screen as a digital pin board for families and a control center for the networked home. The new “Echo Show” device has a 15-inch display and can also be hung on the wall. With its camera, the device can recognize individual residents of the household and display information tailored to them, such as the appointment calendar. This personalization is optional, emphasized the group.
Amazon also wants to expand its role in the household and everyday life of users in the USA with a smart thermostat for air conditioning for 60 dollars. In addition, a device called “Amazon Glow” was presented, which children can use to play with their relatives. It has a camera and screen and projects interactive games onto a table surface.
With its Alexa software in the “Echo” loudspeakers, Amazon was a pioneer in the use of voice assistants in the networked home. The vision is a household that can support residents with a variety of smart devices that interact with one another.
As a new building block for this, on Tuesday Amazon presented the option of teaching Alexa how to recognize individual noises that trigger an action. For example, you can ensure that the software sends the residents a message when they hear the warning sound of an open refrigerator. Previously there were warnings for a small number of noises such as breaking glass.
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