Amazon Astro: The ‘Cute’ AI Robot for Your Household

Not gonna lie; I often imagine having an assistant to myself who would do my chores like receiving my deliveries or just getting me a glass of water. Even though I already got a younger sibling doing all of it for me, it would still be better to have someone be on their toes to get my chores done without throwing 2 fits. 

I know you wish for it too! 😝

My friend, dreams do come true, and this time, we have Amazon to thank for it because it has built the perfect assistant for you or at least something closer. Either way, the Amazon robot Astro is the first step towards it. 

We have all watched plenty of robot movies to know that they might turn 'evil' and have heard enough about the human race being taken over by AI, but Astro is unique. It has been called 'cute' by its users, and apparently, a few got attached to it as well, including Carolina Milanesi, who was among the many testers of Amazon's household robot. 

Amazon refers to it as a capable and helpful robot for your home; let's see if it really is one or if it's just another sham! 

What is Amazon Astro, and where can I get it? 

First things first, you cannot get Amazon Astro at least not just yet as the robot is currently available exclusively on invitations. It is also heavily priced at USD 1599.99. Ironic how the brand that made everything accessible at our doorstep is now gatekeeping its own tech.

Either way, Astro caught my eye and got me intrigued, because what is this robot being loved for its 'cuteness'? When I dug deeper I found out Astro goes way beyond just its innocent personality, it is full of distinctive features and benefits as well which will amaze you. 

It can move, monitor, and alert you

Astro has something called 'intelligent motion,' which allows it to navigate around your house with ease without bumping a toe or its head on any object. As it is based on AI, it has a brain of its own, which it can use to protect itself. It is capable of sensing the danger and avoiding the places that might hurt it. 

When you set it up for use, you need to give it good time to navigate your entire house in a well lit and cleaned situation so that later on it can move around autonomously. Also, just like you and I crave our bed all day long, Astro needs a spot to charge itself too so that whenever it is low it knows where to go. 

In your absence Astro can even guard your place for you and look into things for you, for instance if you want to see the status of the curry on your stove, or want to see what your pantry is lacking. With its periscope camera it can take images and drop the updates to you. 

Not just that, with Alexa Guard, Amazon Astro can also detect the sounds of smoke safety alarms and glass breaking and instantly alert you through the app. 

It can recognize you and also an intruder 

Astro can be integrated with your already existing Echo-system (pun intended) or I should say you should integrate it with your Echo devices for better accessibility. During its setup, you can also register your face with it, especially if you are fond of personalized greetings because I assure you it can make your day then. 

By registering your and your family members' faces you can also ask Astro to locate a person within the house. If the face is not registered and in your absence if someone shows up at your place then they will be treated like an intruder by Astro and you will be alerted right away. 

As good as this feature sounds, it is not practical in Amazon's Astro as of now, as shared by Carolina Milanesi, because by the time it scans the face, a real intruder would smash it into pieces. 

But hey, I guess it's the thought that counts, right? 

Can keep your loved ones close and Alexa closer 

As cute and fun as Astro is, it is still not an individual entity. It is more of an extension to Alexa but in the end it is making Alexa's features more intense and helpful only. So a win is a win. For instance, you can use it with the Alexa Together feature to keep an eye on your loved ones at all times. This feature also comes with an around the clock hands free access to professional helpline numbers in case of urgency as well. 

Using the Drop In feature, you can also ask Astro to give reminders to your independently living family members and stay close to them. 

Along with loved ones it can keep Alexa closer to you as well. It can move around with you, giving and bringing entertainment to you, and other features of Alexa like reading a book, playing music, and whatnot. It can also move around with you across the house while you attend to a call; what more can you ask for at this point? 

Well, apparently, as good as this sounds, these features are still not enough as Amazon Astro is too much Alexa with way less hands, as shared by one of the gadgets enthusiasts, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy. 

But is there anything else it can do? Yes, there is; keep going! 

Ring Protect Pro for enhanced home safety 

Imagine having a subscription feature for a product that is only available on an invite basis in the first place. Capitalism truly has no bounds and nor does Bezos. 

Anyway, first things first, the most interesting feature of this extra subscription is that Astro can burp and fart for you! It might not be assistive but it will make you chuckle a little. 

Other than that, with Ring, Astro can autonomously patrol your house, record videos, and store them on clouds, which are viewable from anywhere on Astro or Ring apps. 

Well, all that Ring has to offer, is it worth it? 

For people with pets and kids it might be but to me it seems useless and intrusive since I, personally, wouldn't prefer the videos of my home being uploaded on cloud no matter how secure the system might be. 

Just to be clear, Astro does follow a very serious safety and security protocol. You can have out of bound zones where it is not allowed to go and even if you forcefully keep it there, it will leave instantly. You can also switch on and off the camera and microphone as and when needed. So make your own choice with it! 

It can bring you beer! 

My siblings are facing tough competition here from Astro, but I think this is one feature they would actually love to have. Astro has a carrier with it, where you can put stuff in the back and instruct it to deliver it in the other room. 

This seems like a fun feature, but do we really need a robot to carry stuff for us from one place to another within our own house!? Also, Astro's carrier is not big enough to hold stuff that actually needs to be carried. But we also cannot deny that there are plenty in need of this feature out there, for them it is not fun but more of a necessity. 

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Is Astro actually helpful, or is it just all farts? 

Amazon's team is futuristing and they clearly focus on inventing the future, Astro is the baby step towards it. Interesting concept, great viability, but spice is still lacking and Amazon is constantly working on that spice. 

Astro's unique personality does earn it some brownie points, but there is a lot that needs work as well. For example, it is only useful for one floor, it cannot crawl through sunken rooms, and it needs a certain kind of floor to function well. But we also cannot forget that Astro is one step closer to our vision of having robots to get all the household work done. 

Astro has the potential to become an individual entity instead of just being an assistant to Alexa, with a few extra arms and an individual identity, I feel Astro can rock your world.  

Also, let's not forget that robot farts are kinda funky and funny!