Astro is a 'domestic assistant' that works with Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, to respond to voice commands. It can also be integrated with Amazon-owned Ring home security products, such as connected doorbells.
Astro has been designed with consumer appeal in mind. It resembles a small, squat vacuum cleaner with large wheels, a face-like display screen with large, expressive eyes, and a periscope camera that extends on a rod to the approximate height of a person.
It moves using Amazon’s 'Intellect Motion' technology, which incorporates simultaneous location and mapping, capturing live footage of the home which can be streamed anywhere. It can be set to provide alerts, such as when the smoke alarm is triggered or broken glass detected.
Amazon, which is a specialist in facial-recognition technology, has built 'Visual ID' into Astro. During set-up, one must “enrol” the faces and voices of all people likely to be inside the home...