Astro is Amazon’s new home robot. Given what we know, I am convinced it will be better able to dodge obstacles than anything else on the market.
Amazon today announced Astro, a helpful, adorable little robot for use throughout the home. It was without a doubt the most polarizing announcement at Amazon’s fall event. Unlike many other devices we refer to as “robots,” Astro is truly a robot. It navigates around the home on its own and even has a sort of personality. The artificial facial expressions almost guarantee some level of bonding is going to take place. We’ve pointed out countless times how many of today’s robot vacuums fail at avoiding obstacles inside of the home. Navigation and collision avoidance is also a challenge for robot lawn mowers. However, Amazon promises efficient navigation through the home with Astro, and I have to say I believe it will deliver. I don’t doubt that Astro will move throughout your household with ease, especially given the navigational technologies in play, namely, SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping). Despite the large eyes on its display, Astro doesn’t actually see what’s in front of it, at least not in the way you might think. SLAM technology allows Astro to pick up on walls and obstacles in front of it, even those that weren’t there moments before. It’s not an untested technology. Some robot vacuums make use of this technology to navigate throughout the home (although some of them use lidar instead.) The ability to detect new items and dodge around them means Astro can be used in a child’s playroom. Even scattered toys won’t interfere with its navigation, although I can’t imagine a Lego rolling up inside it will be good for Astro.
