Ten years ago, e-commerce giant Amazon introduced the Kindle, an e-book reader, and established the appeal of reading on digital devices. Four years ago, Jeff Bezos and his company launched the smart speaker Echo, prompting millions of people to start talking to computers. Now, Amazon is working on another big bet - home robots.
According to informed sources, the retail and cloud computing giant has embarked on an ambitious top secret plan to create a new category of products, namely home robots. This project is code-named "Vesta" and its name derives from stoves and family goddesses in Roman mythology. The project was led by Gregg Zehr, head of Amazon's Lab126 hardware R&D department at Sunnyvale, California. Lab126 is responsible for Amazon's device development efforts, such as the Echo smart speakers, Fire TV set-top boxes, Fire Tablet PCs and the ill-fated Fire Phone.
The "Vesta" project began a few years ago, but this year, Amazon began to increase recruiting personnel. On the recruitment page of Lab126, there are dozens of job vacancies, such as “software engineers”, “robot technicians” and “principal sensor engineers”. People familiar with the plan said that Amazon hopes to start deploying robots in its employees' homes before the end of this year, and it may sell them to consumers as early as 2019. However, this schedule may change, and Amazon's hardware projects are sometimes killed during the brewing.
A spokesman for Amazon said that the company does not comment on "rumors and speculation."
It is not yet clear what tasks Amazon can perform. People familiar with the project speculated that the "Vesta" robot may be Alexa, a mobile intelligence assistant who accompanied the owner without a smart speaker Echo at home. The prototype of the robot has advanced camera and computer vision software that can be navigated home like a driverless car. Former executive Apple Max Paley is responsible for computer vision work. Amazon also hired a professional mechanical engineer in the robotics industry.
According to informed sources, the "Vesta" project is different from the one designed by Amazon Robotics, a subsidiary of Amazon and Massachusetts. Amazon Robotics deployed robots in Amazon's warehouse to transfer goods. It was established after Amazon bought Kiva Systems, a robot company, for $775 million in 2012.
For decades, the prospect of home-based robots providing companionship or basic housework has made the industry very attractive. Atari's founder, Nolan Bushnell, introduced a Topo robot with a nearly 1-meter high, snowman shape in 1983. Although it can be pre-transformed and uses Apple II computer control, it has almost no other features and sales are poor.
In the following years, the United States, Japan, and China began to try to create useful "robot servants," and their performance is getting better and better. iRobot's Roomba can only do one thing, that is, vacuuming, it is a leader in the field. Since 2002, this robot has sold more than 20 million units. iRobot shares fell 8.6% on Monday, the biggest intraday drop since early February.
Recently, Sony and LG Electronics have also become interested in home robots. At the CES show in January this year, LG showed a robot named Cloi, but failed repeatedly in the demonstration. Sony revealed a new version of the robot dog, Aibo, which was first introduced 20 years ago. In addition to howling (Although Aibo has been set to play football), it is not very useful. This dog sells for 1,800 US dollars, which is equivalent to the cost of keeping a real dog.
Advances in computer vision technology, cameras, artificial intelligence, and voice activation technologies have enabled Amazon to bring robots to market. The retail giant has already indicated that it is willing to provide a partial subsidy to Prime members who purchase more products and subscribe through its product subscription service, which will also make it more affordable for mainstream consumers in the future.
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According to informed sources, the retail and cloud computing giant has embarked on an ambitious top secret plan to create a new category of products, namely home robots. This project is code-named "Vesta" and its name derives from stoves and family goddesses in Roman mythology. The project was led by Gregg Zehr, head of Amazon's Lab126 hardware R&D department at Sunnyvale, California. Lab126 is responsible for Amazon's device development efforts, such as the Echo smart speakers, Fire TV set-top boxes, Fire Tablet PCs and the ill-fated Fire Phone.
The "Vesta" project began a few years ago, but this year, Amazon began to increase recruiting personnel. On the recruitment page of Lab126, there are dozens of job vacancies, such as “software engineers”, “robot technicians” and “principal sensor engineers”. People familiar with the plan said that Amazon hopes to start deploying robots in its employees' homes before the end of this year, and it may sell them to consumers as early as 2019. However, this schedule may change, and Amazon's hardware projects are sometimes killed during the brewing.
A spokesman for Amazon said that the company does not comment on "rumors and speculation."
It is not yet clear what tasks Amazon can perform. People familiar with the project speculated that the "Vesta" robot may be Alexa, a mobile intelligence assistant who accompanied the owner without a smart speaker Echo at home. The prototype of the robot has advanced camera and computer vision software that can be navigated home like a driverless car. Former executive Apple Max Paley is responsible for computer vision work. Amazon also hired a professional mechanical engineer in the robotics industry.
According to informed sources, the "Vesta" project is different from the one designed by Amazon Robotics, a subsidiary of Amazon and Massachusetts. Amazon Robotics deployed robots in Amazon's warehouse to transfer goods. It was established after Amazon bought Kiva Systems, a robot company, for $775 million in 2012.
For decades, the prospect of home-based robots providing companionship or basic housework has made the industry very attractive. Atari's founder, Nolan Bushnell, introduced a Topo robot with a nearly 1-meter high, snowman shape in 1983. Although it can be pre-transformed and uses Apple II computer control, it has almost no other features and sales are poor.
In the following years, the United States, Japan, and China began to try to create useful "robot servants," and their performance is getting better and better. iRobot's Roomba can only do one thing, that is, vacuuming, it is a leader in the field. Since 2002, this robot has sold more than 20 million units. iRobot shares fell 8.6% on Monday, the biggest intraday drop since early February.
Recently, Sony and LG Electronics have also become interested in home robots. At the CES show in January this year, LG showed a robot named Cloi, but failed repeatedly in the demonstration. Sony revealed a new version of the robot dog, Aibo, which was first introduced 20 years ago. In addition to howling (Although Aibo has been set to play football), it is not very useful. This dog sells for 1,800 US dollars, which is equivalent to the cost of keeping a real dog.
Advances in computer vision technology, cameras, artificial intelligence, and voice activation technologies have enabled Amazon to bring robots to market. The retail giant has already indicated that it is willing to provide a partial subsidy to Prime members who purchase more products and subscribe through its product subscription service, which will also make it more affordable for mainstream consumers in the future.
Other electronic products
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