In 2021, Amazon shocked firm watchers when it rolled out a house-roving robotic named Astro. At launch, Amazon’s cute little robotic was primarily meant for home duties, serving to out as a house safety and as a roaming Alexa speaker.
Reception was tepid, nonetheless, primarily as a result of the robotic didn’t appear to do a lot aside from act as a cell speaker and Ring digicam, and the worth tag was excessive at $999 (and shortly went increased to $1599).
Now, Amazon hopes to present its cell robotic a function in life by pushing it into the office. This week, the corporate introduced “Astro For Enterprise,” which the corporate says is “a safety answer for small and medium-sized companies that mixes robotics, good safety, and synthetic intelligence (AI).”
As a part of the pitch, Amazon is hawking related subscription companies (after all they’re), corresponding to Ring video monitoring and a brand new service known as “Astro Safe,” a brand new safety subscription plan tied to Astro that can permit it to carry out customized patrol routes and scheduled patrols.
The transition of Astro into the office makes some sense, notably given the excessive price ticket for Astro (which is able to now be $2,350 for Astro for Enterprise) and the extra apparent use case of a roving safety guard for a small robotic that doesn’t do way more than transfer round and watch issues.
In response to Amazon, the corporate has been trialing Astro within the office over the previous yr, together with one meals and beverage enterprise in Hapa. In response to Hapa COO Jonathan Hebel, the Astro has helped keep watch over the kitchen and provides peace of thoughts round potential fireplace hazards.
“We use industrial ovens that, if not turned off correctly, can simply begin a fireplace,” stated Hebel. “I used to drive again to the workplace in any respect hours if I wasn’t assured they have been shut down. Now, with Astro, I’m capable of examine in by way of dwell view and triple-check that the ovens are off at any time—whether or not it’s 6 p.m. or 2 a.m.”
Amazon’s new retail and enterprise focus for Astro makes me marvel if the corporate may finally add further customer-service-related options, turning Astro right into a cell shopper help bot. Amazon launched a enterprise model of Alexa years in the past, however I haven’t heard of any real-world use circumstances during which the corporate’s AI assistant in a customer support position. I’ve to marvel if that can change with the rollout of Astro for enterprise.
So far as enterprise robots, Astro is fairly reasonably priced and one of many few that isn’t bought by way of a robotics-as-a-service subscription plan. That stated, I believe it might want to add further options (like customer support) earlier than many small companies chew.
And who is aware of? Perhaps sooner or later, Amazon will take a cue from Tesla and construct out a extra human-like (and creepier) robotic that may really do stuff like raise issues.
