Robots are here but they still can’t do much

For years, electronics companies have paraded around flashy, futuristic prototypes of consumer robots. They pointed to a not-so-distant future where everyone would have an assistive roaming robot around their home possible make the food or even Act as a personal masseuse. So far, a few of those predictions have been successful, and they’re still largely science fiction stuff.

Last week, at AmazonAt the MARS technology conference in Las Vegas, the e-commerce giant and other tech companies in attendance demonstrated the latest in robotics.

I see no bold marketing claims about “robot butler” or “AI dog” when I walk on the show floor. The robots are designed to look more realistic, and many devices can only perform some simple tasks.

Take Amazon’s Astro robot, for example. Company last September disclosure The long-rumored home robot costs $1,000 for invite-only shoppers. It will cost $1,500 when it launches to everyone on an unannounced date. At Re: MARS, Astro welcomed visitors to a fake smart home tricked with a multitude of internet-connected devices.

About 2 feet tall, the Astro looks like a tablet on wheels. It can follow you around the house and play music or store drinks in the device’s built-in cup holder. Astro has a camera on top of the periscope that can be as high as your eyes so it can keep an eye on your home while you’re away. It can dance to disco in your kitchen.

Beyond those features, the Astro’s most basic functions aren’t too different from those offered by other, cheaper Amazon-branded devices with its Alexa digital assistant. It can send reminders, set alarms, make video calls, or play YouTube videos, similar to the Echo Show smart display.

And even though Astro is touted as a household robot, it can’t follow you to every room, as it can’t go up or down stairs. It also has no hands, so it cannot take items.

Ken Washington, Amazon’s vice president of software engineering for consumer robotics, told reporters last week: “Technology to safely get up and down stairs at consumer robot platforms is a new technology. “So that’s what we’re looking at. Can we do it for a lower price? Is there a technology that allows us to solve that problem inexpensively, securely and It’s not in the modern range today, but it doesn’t” doesn’t mean it won’t be one day. ”

In an interview, Washington made it clear that this is not the last version of Astro, nor will it be Amazon’s last robot. Amazon is also considering opening Astro to third-party developers and allowing them to build new skills, said Washington, who joined Amazon last June after serving as Ford’s chief technology officer.

Doing so can fast-track the process of making Astro smarter and more useful.

“We knew part of the scaling algorithm had to attract other people, just like we did with Alexa,” Washington said. “That’s what we’re thinking about.”

Astro’s home security, entertainment, and telecare tools to take care of elderly family members have become popular features among early adopters. Amazon was most surprised to find that users wanted more features that allowed Astro to interact with their pets.

“A customer tried to get their cat to participate Image ID [Astro’s facial recognition feature]this didn’t work,” said Washington. Now we are wondering, should we apply visual recognition to cats? ”

Amazon knows a thing or two about robots. Company launch Amazon Roboticsthe team focuses on automating aspects of its warehouse operations, a decade ago when it acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million.

In the years since, it has expanded beyond industrial robotics, establishing a consumer robotics division within Lab126, its secretive hardware unit.

The division is growing, and opened last month a new consumer robotics hub in Bangalore, India, where Washington says Amazon plans to hire dozens of software engineers to work on Astro. Amazon has been testing Astro in real and fake homes in Chennai, a city located on India’s east coast, he added.

The Astro team is working to make it more natural for users to converse with the device, primarily communicating by vocalizations and a pair of on-screen circles that are meant to be like eyes.

“Today, interacting with Astro is very transactional,” Washington said. “When you talk to your partner, your spouse, your kids, or your friends, you don’t say, ‘Bob, how’s the weather?’ You just don’t speak that way. So we’re thinking of ways to make the dialogue with Astro more natural.”

Is shownan AI startup backed by the Alexa Foundation, the venture arm of Amazon, is also trying to make talking to robots more natural, but it may have an easier time with customers. your target product.

It has been selling Moxie, a squat, AI robot-friendly “companion,” since 2020. In a chat at re: MARS, Caitlyn Clabaugh, a robotics scientist at Embodied, said. Moxie is for children ages five to ten and is designed to help teach them social and emotional skills.

“There is a huge market for robot companionship, and kids are very adaptable to new technology,” Clabaugh said, adding that Embodied was surprised by how children enjoyed conversing with robots. naturally.

Moxie costs $1,000 and can’t be moved around. But it can gesture by moving its arms. An LCD screen built into the Moxie’s head, backlit by an internal projector, gives the device an animated, expressive face.

Labrador Systems, powered by Amazon Alexa Foundation and co-founded by Mike Dooley, former vice president of Roomba, iRobot, developed the device to assist people with chronic illnesses or conditions that can affect their range of motion. The Labrador Retriever can make household chores easier, by carrying laundry or other heavy items and it can carry meals.

Labrador Systems is also testing the device in senior living homes, which Dooley said in an interview was “just in time” given the nationwide labor shortage. Dooley is adamant that robots are not meant to replace workers, but are designed to ease some of the tedious tasks for them, giving them more time to interact with residents.

Machines increasingly work alongside humans in Amazon warehouses. Last week, the company launched two new devices, the Proteus and Cardinal, that will join the roughly 520,000 robots already in fulfillment and sorting centers.

Amazon says Proteus is “their first fully automated mobile robot.” Traditionally, Amazon has let its industrial robots operate in confined areas of warehouses where they cannot meet employees. With Proteus, Amazon says it believes it can safely incorporate robots in the same physical space as humans.

Proteus and Cardinal, a robotic arm, aim to ease some of the hardest jobs of warehouse workers, like moving heavy objects and repetitive rotations and twists. This is especially important for Amazon, which has faced constant criticism over its labor record and employee injury rates.

Amazon warehouse workers in the US bag According to a recent study by the union of labor unions, based on data submitted to federal safety regulators, the rate of serious injuries is twice as high as that of rival companies by 2021. .

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy pushed back on this data and protect the company’s secure record. Amazon has also committed to making employee safety and satisfaction a top priority within the company, swears to be “Earth’s Best Recruiter.”

Amazon Robotics head Tye Brady last week said automation is an important part of enhancing safety, though that prospect has been debated. An investigation of Disclosure from the Investigative Reporting Center found that Amazon’s robotic warehouses have higher injury rates than facilities without automation.

On stage at re: MARS, Brady described how Amazon uses robots to get packages ready and ready for shipping, but he insists the job couldn’t be done without humans.

“It’s a symphony of humans and machines working together to do this,” Brady said. “We appreciate it being safe to do that work, but you can’t do one without the other. We couldn’t have achieved what we’ve been doing during the pandemic without an end to it. the right fit of automation and our amazing people on the front lines.”