20 Oct 2021
Amazon's household robot Astro an essential move to help company develop skills in consumer robotics, with market set for 29% growth by 2030, says GlobalData
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  • Amazon wants to integrate its e-commerce and consumer electronics businesses even further into its customers' everyday lives
  • Amazon leads in robotics hiring, with almost 1,300 active job postings, but lags in robotics patent filings
  • Amazon is attempting to break into the consumer robotics market, which is predicted to grow at a 29% CAGR between 2020 and 2030

Amazon Astro, the company's first household robot, is an attempt to break into the consumer robotics market, which is set to grow at a 29% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) this decade, according to GlobalData. The leading data and analytics company believes this move will enable Amazon to develop the skills it needs to integrate its e-commerce and consumer electronics businesses even further into people's everyday lives.

Robert Penman, Associate Analyst at GlobalData, commented: "Amazon is always happy to experiment - and, although Astro currently lacks a compelling use case, it will help Amazon to develop its robotics skills and expertise, which should pay off in the long term. While it is only currently a small market, GlobalData anticipates that home robotics will be the natural next digital upgrade for technophiles, and - with enough refining - a 'domestic assistant Alexa' wouldn't be farfetched. However, while Astro provides an opportunity to gauge customer reaction to the concept of home robotics, it simply isn't very useful."

Further, Penman points out that Astro will raise data privacy concerns, commenting: "Handing over your data to Amazon is one thing, but allowing Astro to roam your home with its periscope camera is surely a step too far for most consumers."

Astro's key benefit to Amazon is developing the company's skills in a rapidly expanding industry. Amazon claims to lead in consumer robotics, and this is somewhat warranted. It leads the pack in terms of job hiring - with almost 1,500 active job postings from July to October 2021. However, it does lag in patent filings.

Astro is packed full of Amazon's latest innovations in computer vision, machine learning, and autonomous behavior. Therefore, it isn't cheap. Astro is pitched with a hefty price tag of $999.

Penman adds: "The price point is surprising. Amazon's usual strategy is to undercut competitors and appeal to a wide audience. For now, Astro will be a toy for the rich and will only have a limited production run. However, this is irrelevant to Amazon - it is ahead of its competitors in many integral aspects of consumer robotics, and it is thoroughly enjoying the attention."

Information based on GlobalData's report: 'Robotics - Thematic Research'

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GlobalData plc published this content on 20 October 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 20 October 2021 14:50:04 UTC.