Online retailer Amazon has debuted Astro, a robot with smart technology that can monitor a user's home, check in on family members and deliver household items.
Designed to "help with everyday tasks", Amazon's Astro robot can complete a variety of domestic tasks, such as patrolling the home to monitor unusual activity and work with an upcoming Alexa service to help caregivers stay in touch with "aging loved ones".
Top: Astro can deliver phone calls. Above: it can move autonomously around the home
During set-up, users can programme the robot to learn a map of their home. Advanced learning algorithms and sensitive sensors then allow it to move around autonomously and monitor unusual activity.
When the robot is not used, it will "hang out close by at the ready," the company said. When the owner is not at home, Astro can be used to check in on the home. Using an integrated app, users can remotely send Astro to check specific rooms or people.
Astro monitors the house when users aren't home
"When you're away, use the Astro app to see a live view of your home, check in on specific rooms and viewpoints and get activity alerts," said the brand.
"If you want to see if you left the stove on, or to confirm you have all the ingredients you need for dinner in the pantry while you?re still at the store, you can send Astro to check or use its built-in periscope camera to take a better look," it continued.
Astro uses Intelligent Motion techno...