Oct 04, 2021 21:00:00

An overseas review of Amazon's self-propelled domestic robot 'Astro' is now available

On September 28, 2021, Amazon announced the world's first home watching robot, Astro

, equipped with the voice recognition assistant Alexa . 'Astro is surprisingly affectionate and accurately avoids the dangers of pets, stairs, etc., but how should I still use it,' said Carolina Milanage, a Fast Company writer who tried Astro for two weeks. I don't know. '

Hands on with Amazon's Astro home robot
https://www.fastcompany.com/90682103/amazon-astro-home-robot-hands-on

Astro is a robot that can run autonomously with a monitor, and it is possible to make video calls on the on-board monitor and to answer the phone instead of Amazon's doorbell with surveillance camera Ring. In the United States, the selling price is 999.99 dollars (about 110,000 yen) at the stage of accepting invitation-only purchase applications.

Summary of new Amazon product announcements such as Alexa-equipped home watching robot 'Astro' and children's device 'Amazon Glow' --GIGAZINE

According to Milanage, who was selected as an Astro tester in August 2021, before receiving Astro, Amazon was asked about the size of the house, stairs, steps, ceiling-to-floor height, and the presence or absence of mirrors and glass doors. It was necessary to tell. This is because Astro has the ability to map the inside of the house.

'We needed to have the charging station in an easily accessible location,' Milanage said when welcoming Astro. Once the charging station is set up, Astro will map the inside of the house and then be free to drive around the house. At the time of mapping, Astro seems to have succeeded in automatically detecting the stairs, but it seems that the mirror placed in the corridor could not be detected correctly, and it was necessary to hide the lower half of the mirror with a cloth. As a note when mapping, Milanage notes that 'the house needs to be tidy and bright.'

When the mapping is completed, by naming each room in the house, Astro will be able to receive commands such as 'move to the living room' and 'come to the kitchen'. After the mapping was completed, the steps and mirrors did not interfere with Astro's operation.

Milanage said having two large dogs and three cats was 'a big concern in welcoming Astro,' but in reality, 'Astro is in front of dogs and cats.' I was running in a zigzag and trying to figure out what it was. Astro's speed of movement varies greatly depending on the presence or absence of obstacles in front. I ordered Astro to follow me and intentionally had obstacles. When choosing a route, be careful if you don't have enough space to turn safely and choose another route. This will see the toddler learning to walk and processing information to walk. It's as if he's doing it, 'he said, and it was funny to see Astro moving around the room and playing with his pet, albeit incompletely.

Also, in an interview with the developer after the announcement of Astro, there was a comment that 'There

is a problem with the recognition and processing of the stairs, so I will surely throw myself from the second floor', Mr. Milanage It seems that Astro did not throw himself off the stairs during the trial period.

Astro can recognize the user's face, so you can even personalize your greetings. When he enters the room where Astro is in the morning, he says 'Good morning Carolina!' And greets him cheerfully, which is also one of Astro's charming elements.

Also, when testing the case where a user with no registered face is in the room, Astro took a close look at the intruder's face using a periscope camera, and then notified Mr. Milanage's smartphone with a warning. 'I don't think a real intruder would break Astro's periscope camera, but this process is good enough for a home security surveillance service,' Milanage wrote.

However, Milanage said he 'had mixed feelings' after a two-week trial period. The reason is, ' I'm crazy about Astro, who moves around like Wally in the movie Wally , and I'm convinced that it will help to care for those who love Amazon's services. In addition, how much technology Astro packs Considering that, the price of 1000 dollars is reasonable, 'he said,' in the end, I was not sure how to use Astro in my daily life, 'he said, which is the decisive factor in purchasing Astro. It points out that there is no such function.

CNET, an overseas media company, confirmed with Amazon that it is possible to disconnect Astro's microphone, latent camera, and depth sensor by simply pressing the off button, so that Astro will not record movies or record audio. It seems that it can be done.

Astro can also play music, check people in the house remotely, make phone calls, send messages, set timers, alarms and reminders, and CNET Astro is described as 'Alexa with wheels'.

The specifications of Astro are as follows.

Size: Body: 42.4 cm x 24.9 cm x 43.9 cm, Charging station: 27.9 cm x 26.4 cm x 12.7 cm
Weight: 9.3kg
Battery: Fully charged in 45 minutes
Camera: Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) periscope camera with a viewing angle of 132 degrees (expandable by about 1 meter), 5 megapixel camera on the bezel of the monitor
Display: 10-inch HD (1280 x 800 pixels) touch screen display
Wi-Fi: Dual band 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac
Audio: Front Fire Speaker & Passive Bass Radiator
Processors: Qualcomm QCS605 x 2, Qualcomm SDA660 x 1, Amazon AZ1 Neural Edge x 1
Accessories: Body, cargo bottle liner & cup holder, charging station & power cable, quick start guide, welcome kit
Requirements: Amazon account & compatible mobile device & Astro app running iOS 13 or later or Android 8 or later, indoor use only, Bluetooth connection supported, USB-C port installed, 1 year product warranty