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Astro, Amazon’s newest product, is a robot created as a faithful watch droid. The bot will watch for many things in your home; elderly family members, babies, and even warn you about household objects left on the stove. The bot does its job to protect your house to a tee, as you never have to worry about it being distracted.
Having similarities to the cube-shaped robot from Pixar’s “Wall-E”, Astro would make a fine addition to any home. However, privacy experts are saying people who buy the bot should be aware that it is always watching, even when you might not want it to.
Amazon introduced the robot on Tuesday, saving their product until the end of the hour-long fall product event. Astro costs $1000 as of right now but is only available by invite only. When it releases the price is to increase to $1,450.
Amazon says the robot will work as a mobile Alexa, with the ability to monitor security, keep tabs on family members, and assist you with whatever you need just like Alexa would — like voice control and command. Astro can be operated via an app on your devices that also receive alerts. The app will also give you a POV (point of view) from the robot’s perspective as you can drive the bot around and sees what it sees.
Last year, the Always Home Cam was revealed by Amazon. Being a Ring security camera that can fly it is not the first product created to be mobile in your home. Astro happens to be another example from amazon stretching the bounds of privacy and brings up questions about the pros and cons of AI surveillance as it serves as a test of if we want AI moving around in our houses.
In recent years the company’s security practices improved, boosting encryption and the addition of more on-device processing. The same cannot be said when it comes to privacy. Jen Caltrider, manager of the Mozilla Foundations Privacy Not included Guide, says it is up to the buys to make their choice if they want to trade their convivence for their privacy
Written by Daylontie Jasper
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
CNET: Amazon’s Astro may be cute, but security experts warn of privacy concerns; by Bree Fowler
Feature image courtesy of i-Sapna Team’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset image courtesy of Mack Male’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License