Amazon wants to sell you a Robotic Security Guard

Remember Astro, the Alexa-enabled robot that Amazon announced in 2021 and hoped would be roaming around your house by now? Me neither.

Well, it’s back, and Amazon wants it to get up in your business.

What is Astro for Business?

Instead of a weird little robot friend for you and your family, Amazon is now positioning Astro as a robotic security guard for your business. With it’s periscope camera and various sensors, Astro can alert you to the presence of unknown people, break-ins, and emergencies like fire.

The small bot comes with hefty price tag. To start, you’ll need to shell out $2,349.00 (that’s considerably higher than the originally announced price tag of $1,449). But if you want to use Astro to its full potential, you’ll have to sign up for various subscription services.

Ring Protect Pro: This $20/month service allows you to save video history for up to 180 days and sync Astro with “Ring Alarm”, Amazon’s Ring-branded motion detectors and alarms.

Astro Secure: This $60/month service enables autonomous patrols and gives customers the ability to tailor specific routes for Astro to follow. (Does it just bang around like a pinball without this service? Presumably not, but it’s not clear what it would do if you didn’t pay for this “autonomous” patrol feature.) Astro Secure also enables alerts for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, as well as enabling Astro to investigate specific sensors when tripped.

Virtual Security Guard: Those who pay for both Ring Protect Pro and Astro Secure get one more perk: the ability to pay for Virtual Security Guard ($99/month). This feature connects Astro to what Amazon calls “Rapid Response Agents” in the event that Astro detects an unrecognized person, hears the sound of glass breaking or a smoke alarm, or receives an alert that a Ring Alarm sensor has been triggered. There’s no word on who these “Rapid Response Agents” are or what colour capes they wear, but rest assured that they are well-trained to “remotely navigate the device to investigate further, and if needed, call emergency services.”

According to Amazon’s press release, you can order Astro today, but it’s not clear how you might do that.