Amazon has been using robots in its logistics centers for years, but although these robots have demonstrated a brutal automation capacity for certain processes, they were “limited” to moving boxes and managing orders. Last week this technology giant took another step in this area: acquired the company Fauna Roboticsa New York startup developing a humanoid home robot called Sprout. Now the question is: what will Amazon do with it?
Hello, Sprout.. The Fauna robot has a very different profile from the industrial robots that until now dominated Amazon’s logistics centers. It is not designed for factories, but for living rooms and kitchens. The startup describes it as a housework assistant.
If the children don’t clean up the room, he will do it. Sprout is able to pick up toys from the floor, bring food from the pantry, and interact with children and pets. It works when you call it by name, it recognizes faces, it creates a memory over time and it has an interchangeable battery with an autonomy of about three hours. Its current price: $50,000, and its “heart” is NVIDIA’s Jetson Orin robotics platform.
From Astro to Sprout. In September 2021, Amazon presented AStro, a home robot that I wanted to be more than just an Alexa on wheels. That model hardly caught on and in fact raised certain suspicions about the threat posed to privacy. The difference with Sprout is that this robot has limbs and instead of “rolling” it walks. It also has social interaction capabilities that Astro did not have.
Alexa+, candidate to be part of Sprout. Amazon has been trying to boost its ecosystem with AI solutions for a long time, and its latest attempt is Alexa+an intelligent assistant whose deployment is being especially gradual. Months after its launch, it is still available on a limited basis in some company products such as your Echo speakers or your Echo Show smart displays. The question is whether this new assistant will be an integral part of Sprout.
An increasingly lively race. The acquisition of Fauna makes Amazon the latest major protagonist in a race in which more and more large technology companies are involved. Tesla has Optimus, for example, while others like Figure AI or Boston Dynamics are aiming high. Apple, Meta and Google have expressed interest in this field, although none have presented specific projects and they are all rumors. A decade ago everyone wanted to have smart speakers. Now everyone wants to have humanoid robots, but there is a problem.
China. Although Western companies are advancing, those that are clearly leading the way in this market are Chinese humanoid robots. The Asian giant manufactures 90% of the world’s humanoid robotsand the spectacular demonstrations that we have seen in recent months seem make clear that their progress is really promising.
Unknowns. At the moment Amazon does not seem to be clear about the marketing of these robots. Fauna will maintain its name and apparently some independence. Its 50 employees will join Amazon, but Amazon will not use Sprout for its logistics operations and has not confirmed whether it will be sold to end users. It seems more of a bet on the technology of Fauna and his team, and a more defensive move. If humanoid robots end up taking off, Amazon has a good starting point here.
Image | Wildlife Robotics
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