Amazon Astro Robot
After years of rumors, Amazon's most ambitious home assistant device is finally here — the Astro robot. Astro stands two feet tall and moves on two 12-inch wheels and a rear caster, with a touchscreen that doubles as its "face", giving it a Wall-E look. A combination of sensors and cameras allows Astro to learn the layout of your home, and brings several Amazon services together — Alexa, Ring home monitoring, and other cloud-based services. Once Astro learns the floorplan, a smartphone app allows owners to set boundaries, routes, and specific locations that it will store in memory, along with all its other location data. A periscope 12-megapixel camera raises up to 42 inches, allowing Astro to see over obstructions, and it returns to its charging dock automatically when needed. The Astro Day 1 Edition requires an invitation to purchase, with wider availability coming soon.