Amazon has lots of smart home products and internet-connected devices.
For example, it has Amazon Echo or Alexa, Amazon Fire TV, its Ring products, and its other Smart product line and more. Those devices are considered Internet of Things devices (IoT), in which regular household objects are turned smart after being able to connect to the internet.
And this time, Amazon introduced Astro, which is considered the first commercial robot to be sold into households, that takes the form of a pet dog.
Unlike all other pet robots that came before it, Astro comes equipped with smart home essentials that include cameras, microphones, face-recognition software, a screen, and among others, and of course, an internet connectivity.
Amazon markets its first-ever autonomous household robot as an assistant that can interact and engage with its owners.
Astro is very unlike remote-controlled drones, or IoT devices placed on walls.
At a $999 starting price, Astro is literally Alexa on wheels.
With internet connectivity and its Alexa capabilities, Astro can act as a pet, as well as becoming a monitor to home security.
It can also keep tabs on elderly and young family members, and obey users through Alexa-based commands.
Powered by an AI, the robot is designed to learn from its owners' habits and where it is located, in order to become increasingly useful.
For example, Astro comes equipped with Intelligent Motion, which makes it capable of navigating inside its owner's home by avoiding furniture and pets.
And by navigating around the house, the robot is supposed to understand the layout of the house, to then understand where it is at any given time.
And because it has internet connectivity, the robot can also play podcasts and music, as well as check on others in the house remotely.
It can also make calls, send messages and set timers, alarms and reminders.
And to make it even more useful, Astro comes with a little detachable storage bin on its back, so its owners can use it to carry and deliver items around the house, like a water bottle, for example.
Owners can also use Astro for video calls, in which its "face" becomes the screen for the calls.
And because Astro is a product from Amazon, the robot can also integrate with other Amazon smart products, like Ring's security alarm system, for example.
But what Astro is that no other pet robots before it aren't, is that Astro is an intelligent robot.
As an IoT product with AI and internet connectivity, and pair those with ears and eyes, some suggest that Astro is the next level of surveillance.
With the pet robot, Amazon will receive information about usage, and more.
There is no way of exactly saying how much data can be transferred to, and from Astro, during normal operations.
Hours after Astro's introduction, Vice reported leaked documents about Astro's potential flaws, as well as its heavy reliance on facial recognition and user behavior.
Because of this, Amazon said that users can turn off the microphones, cameras and motion by just pressing a button.
According to Amazon, pressing the 'off' button will prevent Astro from using its microphones, bezel, periscope cameras and depth-sensors. This will prevent the robot from moving and capturing audio or video.
In addition, a dedicated red light is illuminated, according to Astro's privacy page.
If Astro is recording anything, the indicator light on Astro will turn green.
But what makes a real concern is that law enforcements can always serve a search warrant on Amazon, as they always did in the past, to gain access to data recorder on Echo devices, among others.
In fact, according to Amazon's bi-annual information request report, law enforcement around the world filed a total of 30,000 information requests, including subpoenas, warrants and court orders, with the company in the first six months of this year.
And with Astro, Amazon can receive even more information, and allowing law enforcements to peek into them, if they want.
Making worse Astro is just like any other connected device, as it's another opportunity for cybercriminals to compromise the device and steal its data.
