4 ms·

Amazon just revealed its first home robot – here’s what it’s like to use it

22 points by TMWNN 5y ago

bcopa 5y ago
Super cool! Home robotics are long due ... If you're interested in this stuff, you should definitely follow Aaron Edsinger and his work with Hello Robot. But great to see bigger players enter the space.
new_guy 5y ago
Why do companies make garbage like this? It's probably why it's invitation only. Unless it can actually do something useful like say get me a beer from the fridge, then it's just dead on arrival. Home hobbyists have already got better tech than this.
- modeless 5y ago
  It literally delivers a beer in their intro video. Of course, it can't open the fridge, but I think it's pretty hilarious that they actually put a cupholder on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj1t3msy8dc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj1t3msy8dc
- peakaboo 5y ago
  Because they want us to get used to us thinking its so convenient to have Amazon listening and watching us at home. Once you start to see that you are the product, you see the future of tech. What you do is highly valuable to advertisers. If it was cost effective, they would have someone watching you around the clock and reporting all your activities back to headquarters.
arpyzo 5y ago
It looks neat and I'd love to see more home robots! Sadly, given Amazon's track record I'm certain it will spy on its users and report back to the mothership and so I will not be purchasing one.
- maldeh 5y ago
  Is this referring to Alexa, or some other product? Have there been any major notable reports about spying happening with Echos? With regards to data collection for ads, personalized recommendations and such, are there any major concerns that don't also extend to ex:- visiting a website with a tracking cookie on? (Don't get me wrong, I'm very wary of this product after Sidewalk [0] which I don't trust from a security perspective wherein as a bug could allow _third parties_ to snoop on me, but I'm just missing what people are talking about w.r.t. surveillance by Amazon itself) [0] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/06/understanding-amazon-sidewalk https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/06/understanding-amazon-s...
  - arpyzo 5y ago
    I should have posted references to back up my concerns. Here are just a few: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/06/alexa-has-been-eavesdropping-you-this-whole-time/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/06/alexa-h... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/technology/personaltech/ring-doorbell-camera-spying.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/technology/personaltech/r... https://www.bullguard.com/blog/2015/07/did-you-know-that-your-kindle-is-spying-on-you-here-is-how-to-stop-it https://www.bullguard.com/blog/2015/07/did-you-know-that-you... (Edited to fix link formatting)

22 points by TMWNN 5y ago

Super cool! Home robotics are long due ... If you're interested in this stuff, you should definitely follow Aaron Edsinger and his work with Hello Robot. But great to see bigger players enter the space.

new_guy 5y ago

Why do companies make garbage like this? It's probably why it's invitation only. Unless it can actually do something useful like say get me a beer from the fridge, then it's just dead on arrival. Home hobbyists have already got better tech than this.

modeless 5y ago
It literally delivers a beer in their intro video. Of course, it can't open the fridge, but I think it's pretty hilarious that they actually put a cupholder on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj1t3msy8dc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj1t3msy8dc
peakaboo 5y ago
Because they want us to get used to us thinking its so convenient to have Amazon listening and watching us at home. Once you start to see that you are the product, you see the future of tech. What you do is highly valuable to advertisers. If it was cost effective, they would have someone watching you around the clock and reporting all your activities back to headquarters.

arpyzo 5y ago

It looks neat and I'd love to see more home robots! Sadly, given Amazon's track record I'm certain it will spy on its users and report back to the mothership and so I will not be purchasing one.

maldeh 5y ago
Is this referring to Alexa, or some other product? Have there been any major notable reports about spying happening with Echos? With regards to data collection for ads, personalized recommendations and such, are there any major concerns that don't also extend to ex:- visiting a website with a tracking cookie on? (Don't get me wrong, I'm very wary of this product after Sidewalk [0] which I don't trust from a security perspective wherein as a bug could allow _third parties_ to snoop on me, but I'm just missing what people are talking about w.r.t. surveillance by Amazon itself) [0] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/06/understanding-amazon-sidewalk https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/06/understanding-amazon-s...
- arpyzo 5y ago
  I should have posted references to back up my concerns. Here are just a few: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/06/alexa-has-been-eavesdropping-you-this-whole-time/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/06/alexa-h... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/technology/personaltech/ring-doorbell-camera-spying.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/technology/personaltech/r... https://www.bullguard.com/blog/2015/07/did-you-know-that-your-kindle-is-spying-on-you-here-is-how-to-stop-it https://www.bullguard.com/blog/2015/07/did-you-know-that-you... (Edited to fix link formatting)