Suddenly: Amazon is developing a home robot

Soon the voice assistant Alexa will become truly ubiquitous. According to Bloomberg sources, the online giant Amazon is working on creating a home robot that can be released next year.

What is known?

The project, code-named Vesta (derived from the name of the ancient Greek goddess of the family center of Hestia) has existed for several years, but only this year the company began to actively hire specialists in the field of robotics. The development task was assigned to the team of the hardware division Lab126, which is responsible for Kindle readers and "smart" Echo speakers.

The robot is described by the insiders as Echo on wheels. The device will be free to move around the house and follow the owner. In prototypes, there are cameras and a computer vision system, the development of which is supervised by the former Apple engineer Max Paley.

When?

Rumors say that by the end of the year Amazon plans to begin testing robots in their employees' homes, and the final version can be released in 2019.

The novelty differs from robots-loaders in warehouses of the company. These workers are created in another division of Amazon Robotics.

Competitors

The first to develop a robot with a voice Alexa announced the manufacturer of smart watches Omate, but Yumi has not yet appeared on sale. Asus Zenbo is officially available only in Taiwan. The nicest of these three Kuri is just getting ready for release and will cost "only" $ 899 (although over the last year even flagship smartphones have crossed the thousand-dollar line).

Source: Bloomberg