Amazon is working on Burnham’s project to improve its artificial intelligence robot for the home, Astro. The new version of the device will be able to understand the surrounding context and respond accordingly.
According to Business Insider, Amazon is trying to keep the development under wraps. Burnham made himself known from internal documents from the IT giant.
Two years ago, the company introduced Astro, a three-wheeled home robot capable of playing video on a screen, carrying objects and recognizing faces. As Insider pointed out, Amazon’s development has not gained much popularity due to limited functionality.
The updated Astro is trained on the basis of modern language models. Thanks to this, the robot will be able to remember what it saw and heard, enter into a “question and answer dialogue”, understand the context and act accordingly. As described in the documents, the device, for example, is capable of detecting a stove that is on or a faucet that is not working and finding the owner to warn him of a malfunction.
In addition, it could notice that a person has fallen, and call the emergency service if it realizes that help is needed. Or “tell” parents if their child brought friends after school. The publication notes that a robot could combine various smart home functions.
At the same time, Amazon is exploring the possibility of performing even more complex tasks with the device. An example is given of a robot noticing broken glass in a flat, determining that it is a hazard, and prioritizing cleaning before someone gets hurt.
“Contextual awareness,” which the Amazon documents describe, is called “the latest and most advanced artificial intelligence technology designed to make robots smarter, more useful, and more conversational.” However, it is emphasized that it will take a long time to achieve the objectives.
Photo: Amazon
Author:
Ahmed Sadulayev
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
