This week technology giant Amazon unveiled its new Astro home robot. It already looks unlikely that Astro, at least in its first iteration, will have the same kind of success as Amazon’s voice-activated Alexa home assistant, despite being described as “like Alexa on wheels”.
The Independent newspaper reports even some of the tech experts who helped bring Astro to life are far from convinced, referring to the home robot as “absurdist nonsense”, “potentially dangerous”, and “not ready for release”.
However Astro performs commercially, and technologically, its release is likely to teach us a number of things about what we can expect from home robots and IoT devices more generally over the next several years.
Robo-vacuums are now relatively par for the course for many of us. The first models were released over 10 years ago now but it’s really over the last 3-4 years they reached the point that the technology had developed enough for effective models to become price competitive.
At a starting price of over £1000, Astro doesn’t come cheap. But what can the home robot actually do to justify that price tag?
Astro looks a little like a robo-vacuum cleaner, with a screen-for-a-face perched atop, and trundles around a home in a similar way. Properties on two levels might provide a challenge if a quote by a developer who worked on Astro proves accurate. The individual reportedly described the first version of the home-help robot as
“terrible and will almost certainly throw itself down a flight of stairs”.
The insider review was relatively scathing of the new consumer technology. Commenting on its marketed use as an additional layer of home security able to detect any potential intruder, the developer said
“the person detection is unreliable at best, making the in-home security proposition laughable”.
They continued:
“They’re also pushing it as an accessibility device but with the masts breaking and the possibility that at any given moment it’ll commit suicide on a flight of stairs, it’s, at best, absurdist nonsense and marketing and, at worst, potentially dangerous for anyone who’d actually rely on it for accessibility purposes”.
As with most IoT home devices, including Amazon’s Alexa and equivalent digital assistants developed by other companies, as well as other Amazon IoT products like its Ring home security devices, privacy issues have been raised around Astro.
The Independent article and insider sources quoted do appear to hint at an anti-Amazon and IoT agenda so should probably be taken with a pinch of salt. But it is also probably likely that future versions of Astro will see the technology significantly improved, and its price come down.
Amazon’s head of product, David Limp, described Astro as analogous to science fiction, and that the home help robot would be a foundation for further future developments, saying:
“In five to 10 years we believe every home will have at least one robot that becomes a part of [daily life].”
The current marketing spin put on Astro buy Amazon focuses on the potential benefits for elderly users, helping them stay in touch with family members through video calls with home security and convenience the other selling points emphasised.
Adding robot arms and other appendages will open up a whole new range of potential applications of home robots. Amazon says for now the cost of doing so makes it prohibitive as a commercial product but that will undoubtedly represent a future evolution of the technology.
Its launch, and future iterations as well as the competitors that will inevitably be released by other tech giants such as Apple and Google, will give us a pretty good idea of what we can and can’t expect from home robots over the next several years. And also how much we are willing to trust Big Tech with even more insight into and data on our daily lives.