Amazon's new robot is designed to roam your home and promises to do everything. Named Astro, the bot will keep an eye on an elderly family member and alert you if you accidentally left the stove on.
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With big, round, blinking eyes, Astro is reminiscent of Pixar's Wall-E and just as cute. But privacy experts say consumers should be aware that those eyes may not be real, but they will always be watching.
“One of my big fears about this new wave of technology that Amazon has unleashed this week is that it will introduce greater data collection at full scale,” says Matthew Guariglia, a policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Who knows what data the company could collect from a robot traveling to your home?”
Amazon completed the Astro robot on Tuesday. The robot, available by invitation only for now, costs $1,000. The price will rise to $1,450 when it is more widely available.
Amazon says the smart home robot, a sort of walking Alexa, can monitor security, keep an eye on young family members, and be there for anything you might need Alexa for, like voice control your lights. The bot works through an app that also receives notifications from Astro. The app is used to both drive the bot and see what it sees.
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While Astro serves as a test of whether we want robots roaming our homes, it's also an example of an Amazon product that pushes the boundaries of privacy and raises questions about the pros and cons of increased surveillance. It's not even the first Amazon product designed to hover around your home. Last year, the giant unveiled the Always Home Cam, a flying Ring security camera.
Guariglia says that with the Always Home Cam, he's not overly concerned about data collection because the drone, which is set to go on sale later this year, is designed to fly in pre-defined paths around a home. Remote access and control are not possible.
That's not the case with Astro, which takes home surveillance to a new level. The ability to drive a bot is a big change, Guariglia says, giving Amazon more opportunities to collect data. It also gives police a new way to see what's going on inside your home. Apparently, it's possible for police to issue a search warrant for Amazon to access the data it has.
In fact, according to Amazon's most recent semi-annual information request report, law enforcement agencies around the world filed a total of 30,000 requests, including subpoenas, warrants, and court orders, against the company in the first six months of this year.
Like any other connected device, Astro is another opportunity for cybercriminals to compromise the bot and steal data .
Amazon says user privacy is key to the Astro's design, and says much of the data processing happens on the device itself. Additionally, users can set "off-limits" areas of the home that Astro is not allowed to enter. Users can also manually disable its cameras and microphones whenever they want.
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Additionally, a visible light indicates when Astro is transmitting audio or video to the cloud.
Amazon released a statement on Friday saying that customer trust is its "top priority," which is why Astro, like its other products, is built with "multiple layers of privacy and security controls to keep customer information safe."
Information source: cnet.com
