Amazon has unveiled Astro, a long-awaited home robot that can drive itself around your house and is equipped with cameras and a screen. Astro is the company’s first robotics product. Astro uses a number of cameras and a display on its front, which has a set of expressive animated eyes, to map out your home’s layout, recognize items, and keep a watch on loved ones and pets from a remote location.
The robot can handle video conversations, recognizes you when someone calls, and comes to your location when someone calls. It has all of the capabilities of Alexa, but it is on wheels. Nevertheless, according to Dave Limp, vice president of Amazon’s products and services, “customers don’t just want Alexa on wheels, so we’ve imbued it with a distinct identity that’s all its own.”
Amazon robot Astro Features
Astro, who can move at speeds of up to one metre per second, can also be used as a security robot. In conjunction with the Protect Pro service from the doorbell company Ring, it can patrol your house, investigate disturbances and issue an alarm if it detects an unidentified individual entering your home. It can come to a complete stop if anything moves abruptly in front of it, such as a pet, or if it comes across a flight of stairs.
Owners may designate off-limits zones and switch off the robot’s cameras and microphones, while LED lights and a screen indicate when someone is looking through the robot’s cameras. Astro also processes images and sensor data on the device, which aids in the preservation of personal information.
As part of Amazon’s Day 1 Editions early device programme, it will be offered in the United States for $999.99 (£749) to consumers who have been invited to purchase it. It will be one of the first domestic robots available, joining robotic vacuum cleaners and other household appliances.
Furthermore, Amazon robot astra unveiled a super-sized version of its smart display, featuring a 15.6-inch screen that can be mounted on a wall. It is equipped with on-device face recognition, similar to Google’s Nest Hub Max, and is intended to serve as a shared digital hub for the house, featuring widgets for calendars, sticky notes, smart home settings, and camera feeds, in addition to the popular digital photo-frame functionality.
With Prime Video, Netflix, and other services available, the display may be used as a television, or as a video call screen. Custom noises, such as the beeping of the refrigerator door when it is left open or the completion of the washing machine, may be taught to the device so that it can give you an alarm.
Also introduced was Amazon’s take on Google’s Nest Thermostat, the Amazon Smart Thermostat, which is powered by Alexa and will be much less expensive than the competition, retailing for only $59.99 in the United States.
Amazon’s Ring flying drone security camera, the Always Home Cam, which was announced around this time last year, will now be available for purchase by invitation-only to those who have received an invitation. The security camera may fly about your home along predetermined patrol routes, or it can travel to areas where disturbances are detected by other sensors and provide you with a real-time picture of what is going on.
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