How do you write a review for a robot? Since learning that the Amazon Astro, the first mainstream household robot, will be delivered to my house after a few weeks of testing, this question has kept me up at night.
But over the next two weeks, I'll be analyzing the $1,000 Amazon Astro, to see if it lives up to Amazon's own marketing claims — and to see what more it can accomplish. What does that entail, exactly? Everything from carrying beverages from room to room (yes, even the bathroom), amusing the kids (my favorite discovery so far is telling Astro to act as a bird), answering questions with Alexa, patrolling your home while you're gone, and much more. Additionally, it is compatible with other devices and services such as the Ring Alarm Pro and Alexa Guard. In a nutshell, I've got a lot to put to the test.
Imaginative problem-solving
I've tested a dozen or so Amazon products in recent years, and my initial impression of Astro when I took it out of the box was that it looked a lot like Amazon's swiveling smart display on wheels, the Echo Show 10. The reason for this is that the screens are practically similar, measuring 10.1 inches and having a resolution of 1,280x800 pixels.
But that notion is destroyed as soon as Astro wakes up and begins rolling around, angled its screen and flashing its animated eyes like a real-life Wall-E, to map your house for navigation. Unlike Echo devices, Astro's primary mode of communication is nonverbal, and after only a few minutes with the bot, Amazon appears to have made the correct decision. Alexa's speech, even after years of refinement, appears colder and more artificial than Astro's beeps and purrs — something George Lucas predicted with R2-D2 decades ago.
If I had to guess, I'd say this technique would make the robot far more popular than Alexa in houses throughout the country. Why? Astro, on the other hand, is retreating from the uncanny valley into which Alexa and other voice assistants have sunk, choosing instead for a less human, more furry-friend vibe. It becomes less scary and a lot more enjoyable as a result.
Alexa is still present in Astro's design, particularly if you ask it queries that need spoken responses. In that instance, Alexa will respond as normal, more disembodied than ever, emanating from the much more fun bot racing around your kitchen.
But, after only a few hours of asking Astro to sing, beatbox, and act like a bird, it's evident that this isn't simply an Echo on wheels. It has its own distinct personality.
Astro who?
What is Astro if it isn't a mobile Alexa?
It can recognize, locate, and follow people; it can work with Ring Alarm Pro home security to patrol your home for intruders; it can work with a smart pet cam to fire treats at your dog; it can play music and shows on its display; it can tote various beverages around the house in the built-in cup holders on its back, and it can charge your phone in the station beneath those holders. In summary, Astro is supposed to be a tiny factotum who zooms around your house and assists you with various tasks.
Despite all of these qualities, I'm still not sure whether Astro isn't a bit of a problem in search of a solution. None of these features, as wonderful as they are, seem to me to be really important. In fact, the lack of a built-in vacuum feels like a wasted opportunity here, since it's a practical way Astro might truly assist around the house.
Instead, Astro appears to rely on its attraction to divert from its impracticality, as do other attractive creatures. I've already described it as fun, and I'd be prepared to wager a month's income that my 4-year-old will call it cute within the first 10 minutes if he gets his hands on it this weekend.
It remains to be seen how useful Astro's winks and nods are, but I know my kids (and presumably my parents, too) will prefer speaking with this charming little curio than repeating the same word to Alexa again and over, with gradually deteriorating outcomes.
But the sweetness hides something more sinister: a slew of technology for spying and eavesdropping on you from the comfort of your own home. A 5-megapixel bezel camera on the screen, a dual-camera periscope with 12- and 5-megapixel cameras, and a slew of microphones will be familiar to anybody who has used an Echo device. All of these can be turned off with a button click, but in order to use the gadget, you must believe that all of its footage and processing is kept local, which Amazon claims is the case.
Astro encounters a speed hump
Because Amazon's little robot has wheels, it can't move up or downstairs (well, I guess it could go down, but I doubt it would survive the trip). But I'm still astonished by how mobile the bot is since it easily navigates thick-pile carpets and tiny floor changes.
Astro, on the other hand, isn't perfect: the robot failed twice to map the first level of the CNET Smart Home. Following a series of phone calls with an Amazon representative, it appeared that a variety of difficulties were contributing to the troubles. The wood flooring was either too gleaming, the windows near the docking station were interfering with Astro's ability to locate itself, or the exposed stairwell in the living room was perplexing the robot.
We closed windows and covered the exposed stairway with cardboard to get around the difficulty, and Astro was able to map the floor effectively.
This is made possible by Astro's array of cameras, as well as deep learning, which allows it to swiftly map and memorize the layout of your home. I'll have to put this to the test in the following weeks, but my initial thoughts are mixed. It worked pretty well once Astro had successfully mapped the home. However, because Astro isn't built to cope with a large range of architectural characteristics, the mapping process was a hassle.
After Astro has properly mapped your home, you may take a tour with him, stopping in each room and telling him the names. I had to adjust a few borders in the program, but for the most part, Astro had mapped out the home and was able to explore it without difficulty.
I've also yet to put the privacy features to the test. After Astro has mapped your house, you can use the app to shut off specific rooms so it won't follow you there (think: bathrooms). Again, I'm looking forward to putting these features to the test, but I believe they're a sensible precaution to have in theory.