ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — We introduced you to the new Astro robot recently for all its glory and functions but did you know it can be used to keep your home safe?
Astro learns the layout of your entire home, at least one floor of a home. Teach it the name of each room and say “Astro this is the [insert room or part of the house here]”
For instance, with the front door, Astro will aim a camera at the front door to remember. Then, when you’re not home, you can check in it on an app.
While you’re away, Astro patrols the house, going from room to room and looking out windows. If it detects something amiss, Astro will send a notification to your phone.
Astro also looks for strangers. Each person who lives in the home has their face scanned by Astro. If you turn on away mode and it sees someone who isn’t on its list of profiles, it sends an alarm to your phone and follows that person around.
For example, we asked someone to get into the house while Astro is in “patrol mode.” It detected someone came into the house and began investigating an unrecognized person. Astro followed it around, gathering info and sending live video.
Astro used a periscope camera to investigate when he heard a loud noise. It scanned the room to see what was going on, as well.
It’s not a good solution on its own for home security but it works well with things like a Ring security system and other Echo devices.
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