Amazon is working to put robots inside your home

[Greg S]

Amazon introduced its own hardware for the first time a decade ago with the launch of the Kindle. The Amazon Echo made its debut four years ago. Both have become widely used, but Amazon is not stopping here. A recent hiring spree indicates that Amazon is secretly working on a domestic robot for everyday consumers.

Carrying codename "Vesta," the service robot may be able to navigate through homes using a combination of cameras and vision software. The Vesta project is being run by Gregg Zehr, head of Amazon's Lab126 hardware research and development segment. The Echo, Fire TV, Fire tablets, and failed Fire Phone have all come from this R&D division.

Vesta has been under development for several years now, but Amazon only recently began to seek top talent for Lab126. New software engineers and hardware engineers are being recruited specifically for robotics applications.

Amazon is seeking to put robots into the homes of employees before the end of this year, while the general public may see a release of Vesta as soon as 2019. However, there is no guarantee that the project will make it past early trial phases.

Although there are few details known at this point, some familiar with the project believe that the robot will act as a mobile Alexa. Acting much like a self-driving car inside a house, Vesta could follow you around and be ready for any query thrown its way. Despite being a robot, Vesta is completely separate from projects at Amazon Robotics, a subsidiary formed from Kiva Systems in 2012 that works on warehouse automation systems.

As concerns for privacy are becoming more prevalent, there is a high level of trust required to allow a robot equipped with computer vision and audio recording capabilities into your home. Amazon has shown reasonably good faith regarding how its Alexa platform data is being used, but offering up data about how one lives at home could go beyond the tolerance of data collection for many.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/74269-amazon-working-put-robots-inside-home.html

 

[hood6558]

Yeah, this is what we need - A.I. that follows you around, so you can talk to Facebook, and it can watch every move you make. The targeted ads are getting ridiculous - my roommate swears her phone is listening, and every ad she gets is related to a recent live conversation.

 

[ShagnWagn]

Privacy invasion to all new heights. I still question why people want these things in their house - let alone actually pay for them. Mapping out your home and following/listening to your kids and your private time with your spouse? This is frightening! So, what exactly is the reason why they need cameras?

Self-driving? Like how these autonomous cars are self-wrecking? I guess amazon will be liable if a lamp or expensive vase gets knocked over and busted?

 

[Morphine Child]

They may work as much as they want, they ain't putting s*it in my home.

 

[senketsu]

Hopefully it will have the courtesy to leave the bedroom when... well, you know..
maybe when you wake up it will be watching you and listening (for your command of course!)

 

[Abraka]

Privacy invasion to all new heights. I still question why people want these things in their house - let alone actually pay for them. Mapping out your home and following/listening to your kids and your private time with your spouse? This is frightening! So, what exactly is the reason why they need cameras?

Self-driving? Like how these autonomous cars are self-wrecking? I guess amazon will be liable if a lamp or expensive vase gets knocked over and busted?

You're right. Something that Orwell didn't predict in his book "1984" is that in the near future (which is today) people will be this stupid. No need to force them to be under surveillance, they'll happily do it themselves. We have less privacy today than people in communist Albania.

Not many people have predicted that human IQ will actually drop. Despite tests showing constant increase in IQ, the real-life decisions show a huge drop in the IQ. That's why I admire that movie "Idiocracy" which shows the true direction in which humanity goes: moronization.

Next step in privacy violation:
Those expensive robots that will be buying will be hacked by local teenage criminals to unlock the front doors, to steal objects, or even kill the owners.

Will that stop people from buying the mechanical traitors? Nope, as long as the mainstream media is advertising them. In fact, they'll be paying for parts that are implanted inside of them, so that a hacker can actually take control over their body. And nobody will be worried about that, as long as mainstream media is supporting such behavior. Just like they are supporting making selfies everywhere (effectively spying on yourself and other nearby people, without even being paid for it).