Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Has a Top-Secret Plan to Build Home Robots (bloomberg.com)
After making smart speakers a household product (at least to some), Amazon seems to have found its next big consumer product: robots. Amazon is building smart robots that are equipped with cameras that let them drive around homes, Bloomberg reported Monday. These robots could launch as soon as next year. From the report: Codenamed "Vesta," after the Roman goddess of the hearth, home and family, the project is overseen by Gregg Zehr, who runs Amazon's Lab126 hardware research and development division based in Sunnyvale, California. Lab126 is responsible for Amazon devices such as the Echo speakers, Fire TV set-top-boxes, Fire tablets and the ill-fated Fire Phone.
The Vesta project originated a few years ago, but this year Amazon began to aggressively ramp up hiring. There are dozens of listings on the Lab 126 Jobs page for openings like "Software Engineer, Robotics" and "Principle Sensors Engineer." People briefed on the plan say the company hopes to begin seeding the robots in employees' homes by the end of this year, and potentially with consumers as early as 2019, though the timeline could change, and Amazon hardware projects are sometimes killed during gestation.
The Vesta project originated a few years ago, but this year Amazon began to aggressively ramp up hiring. There are dozens of listings on the Lab 126 Jobs page for openings like "Software Engineer, Robotics" and "Principle Sensors Engineer." People briefed on the plan say the company hopes to begin seeding the robots in employees' homes by the end of this year, and potentially with consumers as early as 2019, though the timeline could change, and Amazon hardware projects are sometimes killed during gestation.
not so "top-secret" if I can read about it on slashdot
The main difference between an Amazon, Google or FB robot or any smart assistant is loyalty. All the shows and cartoons we grew up that had robots - we still wish for - have their loyalty to us, the owners. They assist us, perform tasks for us, and protect us, till their own demise if necessary.
Today's "robots" won't be "owned" by us. You will will "lease the right to use them for X period of time". Make no mistake, these self moving spy devices will maintain their allegiance to the corporate overlord for the sole purpose of injecting themselves into your most personal thoughts and decisions, in the very fabric of your personal life so they can continually monitor, digest, live stream and sell to the highest bidder. oh, and share with any acronym agency when the secret court demands.
Even if they "agree" not sell your data directly - it will be completely scrap able via api's.