Amazon is said to be building home robots
The firm may be developing autonomous machines to help out around the house—think of them as Alexa on the move.
The news: Bloomberg says an Amazon project called Vesta is “an ambitious, top-secret plan to build a domestic robot.” The work is being carried out at Lab 126, the same in-house research team that developed the company’s Echo speakers. It has recently been trying to hire more robotics engineers.
Details: Per Bloomberg,“prototypes of the robots have advanced cameras and computer vision software and can navigate through homes like a self-driving car.” The firm reportedly has plans to put the machines inside the homes of staff before the end of this year.
Why it matters: Domestic robots are a vision of the future, but so far they have been unsuccessful. There’s huge money to be made by the firm that nails the technology. Amazon will hope it can use its existing smart-home dominance to take a lead.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets
When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.
Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch
Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.