Amazon Astro review: impressive autonomous navigation skills, reasonable price for the tech, attractive design, but its daily utility is questionable
In a two-week trial, Astro was surprisingly endearing and avoided hazards such as pets and stairs. But I still don't know what I'd do with one.
Fast Company Carolina Milanesi
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Discussion
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@carnage4life
Dare Obasanjo
on x
Amazon hardware division went all-in on throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks after the unexpected success of Echo speakers. No idea for sticking Alexa on a device from clocks & toaster ovens to Honda Asimo knock offs has been rejected. https://www.fastcompany.c…
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@neiltwitz
Neil Shah
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Fire tablet on wheels!! Hey ASTRO read me a book!! #AmazonEvent https://twitter.com/...
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@caro_milanesi
Carolina Milanesi
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So what is it like to have @amazon #Astro moving in with you for two weeks? I share my experience for @FastCompany As an analyst I have plenty to say about the opportunity of #homerobotics but for now, I wanted to share the experience more as a somewhat regular consumer https://t…
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@harrymccracken
Harry McCracken
on x
For two weeks, @caro_milanesi lived with Amazon's robot. Here's her report on what she, her husband, and her pets thought about it. https://www.fastcompany.com/ ...
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@qhardy
Quentin Hardy
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@harrymccracken @caro_milanesi Astonishing how quickly even an analytic researcher anthropomorphizes electronic objects. The human desire to project ourselves, or to want to be seen, is profound.
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@qhardy
Quentin Hardy
on x
@caro_milanesi @harrymccracken I think the insurmountable distinction between a pet and a robot is their nature away from us. Dogs might miss us, but they would go on doing dog things. What is the nature of a roomba or a Tesla away from us? They are still, & will always be, close…
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@caro_milanesi
Carolina Milanesi
on x
@qhardy @harrymccracken It is indeed fascinating. I do refer to Alexa as she and I think of it as a human for Astro, as I do with all our pets, I refer to it as he but saw it as a pet-like rather human-like because of the shape. Clearly, this is rationalizing after the fact
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@cnn
@cnn
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Amazon's vision for the future of home security includes drones flying over your roof, outdoor cameras that monitor for possible trespassers and cute robots patrolling indoors. https://www.cnn.com/...
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@alex_roddie
Alex Roddie
on x
A brief thread about stupid robots, and Amazon's latest wonderful opportunity for people to become part of a cynical experiment in surveillance capitalism, brought to you by our late lamented friend Douglas Adams. First, the offending item: https://www.theverge.com/...
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@tomfgoodwin
Tom Goodwin
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I wish Amazon would as much effort into making it easy to buy a pair of shorts to play golf in..... as it does with making a home robot that is basically a terrible mobile phone that follows you around stealing any remaining privacy. https://www.theverge.com/...
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@caro_milanesi
Carolina Milanesi
on x
Happy to answer questions starting with 👉no Astro did not fall down any stairs 👉no Astro was not in our bedroom at night 😝 https://twitter.com/...
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@geoffglave
Geoff Glave
on x
Great article by @caro_milanesi re her experience with Amazon's Astro. It's interesting that when we initially considered sentient robots - Like R2-D2 or WALL-E we didn't really think about them being “cloud-connected,” and sending everything back to HQ. https://www.fastcompany.c…