After seeing Astro in person, I think Amazon is missing an opportunity to make Astro a viral hit.
I recently bought a first-generation Tamagotchi, and for one blissful week, I relived my youth, living as a single mother juggling work, sleep, and raising my oddball Tarakotchi babe.
Throughout the week, I was flooded with a wave of nostalgic memories – from the lunch lady at my school who hoarded students‘ Tamagotchi in her apron and kept them alive during class to the sweet, sweet feeling of success when I managed to provide the optimal care for my virtual pet and score the elusive Mametchi.
In the 20 years since the popularity of toys like Tamagotchi, we’ve seen an abundance of robot dog devices that never quite land, the birth and death of virtual pet sites like Neopets, and even pet care games like Nintendogs soar to the heights of success only to come crashing down when it came time for a sequel.
Around the same time I bought my Tamagotchi, I was invited to see Amazon’s Astro home bot in person, and I think I’m finally starting to understand the place it could have – but it’s not as a pure smart home assistant.
Instead, I think Amazon could hit the robotics market where it hurts: parents’ wallets.What is Astro, anyway?
In case you missed it, Astro is basically an amped-up Echo Show on wheels with a compartment for carrying objects and a tucked-away periscope. As of writing, it’s available exclusively in the US and by invite-only, with no updates from Amazon on when this might change.
Many have had doubts about if and when the product will release, if anyone will even buy it, and, quite simply, what purpose it serves.
It has some awesome practical features in addition to being Alexa-enabled; from using facial recognition to locate household members and delivering things to them to checking if your stovetop is off with its absurdly long periscopic camera, Astro is a great home assistant.
