Amazon's new robot guards the house while the owners are away

"Astro is fascinating and a bit scary at the same time. On the one hand, she watches over the house while the owners are away, but on the other hand, she collects a disturbingly large amount of information about them.

The Astro is a robot designed to be the owner's eyes and ears when not at home. With the help of many sensors, it is able to monitor the entire apartment, and even alert you if it senses a fire or hears the sound of breaking glass. However, thanks to these sensors, she will know practically everything about us.

With the help of a set of sensors, the robot is able to observe what is happening in the house and react independently to threats such as the sound of breaking glass or a fire alarm. It automatically sends a notification to the owner's phone, but you can also use it to watch live what is happening in the apartment. The robot can also be set to watch over a pet or a loved one, Astro is able to connect the owner with them by means of a video conversation. 

Moreover, the robot is able to check what is missing in the refrigerator while the owner is shopping. Besides, the robot can take a picture, find the phone, turn on the music and give the weather forecast. A lot of functions for one device. The Astro is an advanced self-propelled Alexa that also dances and makes animal sounds, plays movies and TV shows on screen, and serves drinks and snacks at home parties.

The company had $ 3.8 billion in the first quarter net loss. As a result, Amazon stocks lost as much as 10 percent in post-session trading overnight from Thursday to Friday.

However, in order to successfully monitor the condition of the house, the robot must first gather detailed information about it. First, he has to map the entire house or apartment in the same way as cleaning robots do, marking all obstacles. Astro also notes the habits of the owners, in which rooms they stay most often and at what times of the day or night. In fact, the robot becomes the shadow of its owner.

The robot also has a face recognition function to distinguish between individual household members. Their voice also distinguishes them. When she fails to recognize his face and voice, Astro enters Sentry Mode. Then it begins to follow the unrecognized person step by step and records everything that is happening by sending materials to the cloud. According to cnet.com, Astro's face and voice recognition system is so imperfect that the robot often thinks that the householder is a "stranger", so it drives after him and records every gesture in movement.

The Amazon Astro robot is expected to go on sale with a price of $ 1,450. You can now buy it for $ 999, but only in the US and only for selected customers who will receive a special invitation to the offer."