Amazon launched a household canine lookalike robot, called Astro. The device has digital eyes on a rotating screen mounted on wheels. The 10.1’’HD touchscreen display has 1280x800 resolution. The device supports dual-band, Wi-Fi, A2DP support for audio streaming.

The robot is designed to take up tasks such as home monitoring, setting up reminders, alarms and timers with Alexa. The home monitoring feature of the device allows you to see a live view of your home, checking in on specific rooms. When you are home, the robot can follow you room to room like your pet. It can play your music, podcasts or TV shows, and find you to deliver calls and messages.

It learns the map of the home while setting up. Then it raises or lowers the periscope to give you the better look. When Astro detects an unrecognized person, or an unusual activity in the home, a person can receive push notification from the Alexa app.

With its advanced learning algorithms and sensor fusion, it can navigate quickly through your rooms. It moves around objects at a safe distance from people, pets etc. It can also deliver or message to someone else. It comes with detachable cup holders and can carry items in its Ziploc storage containers.

The weight is 20.6 pounds and the charger itself weighs 3.9 pounds and comes with a one year warranty and requires an active Amazon account to operate. The device runs on iPhones with iOS 13 and Android smartphones running on version 8 or higher.

For privacy controls, you can turn off camera, mics and motion with one press of the button present at the top of the head.