Jeff Bezos made a bold bet in 2017. Bezos, a science fiction and robotics enthusiast, believed that in the not-too-distant future, consumers would have robots in their homes.
of Amazon The founder and then-CEO directed a group of the company’s top device executives to begin developing the device, and within a few years the team had come up with the $1,450 Astro.
Astro took to the stage at Amazon’s Fall 2021 event, giving the public their first look at what is essentially an Alexa-powered tablet on wheels that autonomously navigates your home, recognizes your face, and acts as a patrolling security monitor.
But it never evolved beyond an invite-only product. Astro has been shipped to just a few thousand customers, some of whom now believe the era of robots is over. The company also released Astro for businesses in 2023, but it was discontinued less than a year later.
Despite its stumble with Astro, Amazon hasn’t given up on Bezos’ home robot dreams yet.
Over the past few months, the company has assembled a new team to work on “new world robotic products,” according to a CNBC analysis of job postings.
“Robots are coming out of the movies and into our homes,” read a recently deleted job posting for an engineer. This post details a product that allows you to navigate a “dynamic home environment” and “autonomous movement with your family.”
Amazon is known for making long-term bets at the risk of being “misunderstood” in the short term if it can gain an early advantage in new markets, as it did with its Alexa voice assistant and Kindle e-reader.
CEO Andy Jassy reminded investors of this approach in his latest annual letter, calling artificial intelligence and robotics one of the “biggest turning points in our lifetime.”
“Every day, we strive to anticipate what will make our customers’ lives easier and better and create the next change,” Jassy wrote.
Analysts also expect the humanoid market to grow rapidly in the coming years. Barclays predicted in a January report that the global market, currently valued at $2 billion to $3 billion, could reach around $40 billion by 2035, and “under the most optimistic scenario” up to $200 billion.
Fauna Robotics’ new robot “Sprout” demonstrates its dexterity while being remotely controlled in New York on January 14, 2026.
Seth Wenig | AP
Earlier this year, Amazon redeployed much of Astro’s team and brought in MIT roboticists to work on home robot projects, according to its LinkedIn profile.
It also made some splashy acquisitions to strengthen its efforts.
Amazon scooped up New York-based Fauna Robotics in March. The company has developed a 3.5-foot-tall humanoid robot called Sprout. At the time, the company announced that Fauna would become part of a new division called the Personal Robotics Group.
Some of the Personal Robotics Group’s staff previously worked in Amazon’s Lab126 research and development department. The division has been behind many of Amazon’s most successful consumer hardware products, including the Kindle e-reader, Echo smart speaker, Fire TV, and Fire tablet. Lab126 was also the developer of one of Amazon’s biggest failures, the Fire Phone.
It’s unclear what kind of home robots the group is developing or what kinds of tasks they can handle, but a June job posting hinted at an effort to “build robots that are not only functional, but also fun.”
Amazon may be adapting Fauna’s robots for homes and businesses. The Sprout humanoid has expressive yellow eyebrows and is designed to be “friendly and competent” and has been used primarily by developers, as well as commercial and academic researchers.
An Amazon job posting posted online in October lists a “field support engineer” who can assist with customer support and on-site repairs, while another job posting calls for a user experience designer to “define what it’s like to live with a Fauna robot.”
“Our goal is simple: to create robots that people actually want to live in and interact with in everyday human spaces,” the listing states.
Amazon spokesman Brad Glasser told CNBC that the company acquired Fauna because it is “committed to tackling challenges that have the potential to open doors for the personal robotics space.”
“We are optimistic about a future where personal robots help people in meaningful ways in their daily lives, and we intend to play a key role in making that future a reality,” Glasser said.
Glasser noted that there remains a huge gap between what’s possible in a controlled laboratory and what’s possible in an environment like a living room or lobby. Amazon is working with the robotics community to solve these challenges, he said.
This screenshot features Amazon Astro in the September 28, 2021 Amazon Devices and Services Announcement.
Jamie McCarthy | Getty Images
Emily Lugo Velez has been living with Astro in her home in North Carolina since 2023. Lugo Velez, who works in the IT industry and now runs an AI advisory business, said she and her husband were unfazed by the robot’s $1,000-plus price tag and quickly joined the waiting list.
“We spent a lot of money on this,” Lugo Vélez, 52, said in an interview. “We feel like we can’t go on like this anymore, so we’re going to let it run around the house until it finally dies, and then we’re going to send it to the garbage heap.”
She said she still uses the device to check on her pets and appliances when she’s out and about. But beyond that, Astro has become primarily a party trick and a “trip hazard.”
Most days, she tells Astro to return to the charging dock.
Ken Washington, Amazon’s vice president of consumer robots until 2023, said executives working on Astro had discussed making it more capable by adding an arm that could pick up and inspect items without destroying them.
He told CNBC that he pushed for the development of bipedal robots, but that his leadership disagreed.
“We had Jeff (Bezos) on the show to speak and review, and I watched his body language pretty closely,” Washington said. “I think he was disappointed by the lack of functionality, but impressed by the ability to map and navigate undefined spaces under all lighting conditions.”
Despite all its struggles with Astro, Amazon has a rich history in robotics.
The company acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012 and introduced mobile robots to its vast fulfillment network. Since then, Amazon’s warehouse automation efforts have ballooned to more than 1 million robots across its facilities, capable of picking, sorting, and passing items to employees.
However, houses present unique obstacles for robots to navigate.
“Home is a completely different space,” said Jeff Bernstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, an industry group that has been in the robotics industry for 45 years. “Children, pets, grandparents, stairs. No one’s home is set up exactly the same. So for a robot, it’s definitely a much more difficult environment for a walking robot.”
Colin Angle, co-founder and former CEO of Roomba maker iRobot, said Amazon may be lucky a second time as robot-building tools have improved “by leaps and bounds” in recent years.
Amazon attempted to buy iRobot in 2022, but pulled out of the deal two years later amid growing opposition from regulators.
“The toolkit that the Astro team had when they did it was a club with nails in it, and it was incredibly primitive,” Angle said. “It’s hard to underestimate how much the robotics industry has changed over the past two years.”
Advances in key mechanical components such as AI models, sensors, battery systems, and actuators are fueling a new wave of development around industrial and consumer robots.
Elon Musk’s tesla has been developing a bipedal Optimus robot since 2021. Startups such as Uptronic, Boston Dynamics, and China’s Unitree, Figure, and 1X are also developing humanoids. agility roboticsThe company that developed the bipedal robot Digit and counts Amazon among its backers went public through a SPAC on Thursday.
Venture capital firms poured $33.4 billion into robotics and physical AI companies in the first half of this year, compared to $28.7 billion in all of 2025, according to data from PitchBook.
While most humanoid robots are developed with manufacturing, logistics, and medical industries in mind, a growing group of companies are trying to develop robots for the home.
apple He is reportedly working on several home robot projects, including a tabletop device similar to Pixar’s lamp. hug face Nvidia The company agreed to acquire the company in September for about $13 billion, and launched the $399 MicroDuck in August. In May, Angle launched a startup developing fuzzy companion robots called Familiar Machines & Magic. Companies like Sunday, Tau, and Nori claim their robots can help with household chores like folding laundry and clearing tables, but most remain prototypes or niche devices.
“(Astro) was ahead of its time,” Washington said. “It was such a big, big leap that we felt like we had the right to own a home.”
The robot’s limited capabilities and price tag of more than $1,000 likely made it a difficult sell for many consumers, said a former Amazon employee who helped develop Astro and requested anonymity to speak candidly about the project.
“My poor Astro cost about $2,000 when it came out, and that’s a lot of money,” said a former employee. “That means a lot to consumers, and they want robots that do a lot of things.”
Mr. Glasser said Amazon is taking a long-term view of new markets like personal robots, emphasizing what it can gain by getting in early.
Astro was designed to help Amazon build competencies and focus on its goals, he added. Glasser said the company is applying much of the learning, talent and experience from Astro to other robotics efforts.
In a Facebook group for Astro owners, users are complaining about poor customer service and are unhappy that Amazon’s AIexa+ AI assistant is not supported on the Astro.
Some users are interpreting this to mean that Astro may be retired. Others tried to sell their items at discounted prices on eBay and Facebook Marketplace.
Glasser said Amazon will continue to support Astro customers.
Astro owner Joe Martin, who lives near Tucson, Arizona, said he feels he has reaped enough benefits from the device over the past four years. I’d like to welcome another robot into my home if it can do more, like help around the house.
“Astro’s price tag was $1,000, which was pretty limited, but if it brought you drinks and dusted your furniture, you might be intrigued by it,” said Martin, 65. “I think it’s right around the corner.”
