Amazon launches robot ‘Astro’ to roll around house

The home robot is designed to take up tasks such as home monitoring, setting up routines and reminders, and can play music and TV shows while rolling around the house.

September 29, 2021 04:30 am | Updated September 30, 2021 11:57 am IST

A roving, canine-like household robot called Astro is seen in an undated photograph provided by Amazon September 28, 2021.

A roving, canine-like household robot called Astro is seen in an undated photograph provided by Amazon September 28, 2021.

Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday announced a household, canine-like robot called Astro and a deal with Walt Disney Co to imbue its voice-controlled tech in resort hotels, striving to make its virtual aide Alexa a bigger part of consumers' lives.

(Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today's Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click  here  to subscribe for free.)

The home robot is designed to take up tasks such as home monitoring, setting up routines and reminders, and can play music and TV shows while rolling around the house.

The device, which has digital eyes on a rotating screen mounted on wheels, is available at an introductory invite-only price of $999.99 and regular price of $1,449.99.

Among other launches in its latest lineup were a smart thermostat, smart display Echo Show 15 and a new health-tracking band called Halo View.

The Echo Show 15 can be mounted on a wall and is powered with AZ2 Neural Edge, a processor that helps users personalise the screen.

In its push to appeal to the next generation of customers -kids - the company introduced Amazon Glow, a gadget for playing games, reading or drawing while on a video call.

Also read |Amazon event | From Astro robot to Alexa upgrades: here are the highlights

Voice assistant at Disney's theme park hotels

In its partnership with Disney, it will launch an Alexa-powered voice assistant at Disney's theme park hotels,along with a paid feature that lets customers interact with Disney characters at home.

The feature is expected to launch next year and will let users interact with Disney characters with the 'Hey, Disney!' voice command.

Amazon has launched a number of new gadgets every year,including sunglasses with voice control and an in-home drone,that have not become massive sellers.

Devices make up for a fraction of Amazon's overall sales.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.