Amazon Astro
Rating: 4/10, A concerning look at the future of consumer robots. Amazon’s Astro sounds intriguing on paper as an autonomous home sentry and “domestic assistant” that can keep tabs on your house through the use of a telescoping camera, while doubling as a roaming access point to the company’s Alexa smart assistant that can follow users from room to room. But its benefit to consumers seems to be an afterthought, as many believe Astro is first and foremost a way for Amazon to collect more info on users, including detailed floor maps of their homes and even scans of their faces—required for the bot to serve as an autonomous security guard.
It seems consumer robots will become more effective spies long before they become effective servants, and even if they eventually learn to do laundry and wash dishes, will we really want to invite them into our homes?
