Amazon is not done trying to put a robot in your living room. The company has assembled a new home robotics team and is hiring for what job listings call a 'new-to-world robot product,' according to a CNBC analysis of job posts. The role describes a machine that can navigate 'dynamic home environments' and operate 'autonomous operation alongside family members.'
The push comes after Astro, Amazon's $1,450 Alexa-equipped tablet on wheels, shipped to only a few thousand customers and never moved beyond an invite-only product. Amazon also launched an Astro for businesses in 2023 and sunset it less than a year later. CEO Andy Jassy has said AI and robotics are among the 'biggest inflections of our lifetime,' and the new team signals Amazon is still chasing founder Jeff Bezos's 2017 bet on household robots.
Amazon home robot: what the job listings reveal
The job posts, some of which have since been removed, describe a product built for real homes rather than labs. One engineer listing said 'Robots are about to step out of the movies and into our homes.' Another, from June, hinted at an effort to 'create robots that are not just functional, but delightful.'
Amazon has also redeployed much of the Astro team and brought in an MIT roboticist to work on the home robot project, according to LinkedIn profiles. In March, it acquired New York-based Fauna Robotics, which built a 3.5-foot-tall humanoid called Sprout. Fauna became part of a new division called the Personal Robotics Group, which includes staffers who previously worked in Amazon's Lab126 hardware unit — the group behind the Kindle, Echo and Fire TV.
- New team: Amazon's Personal Robotics Group is hiring for a 'new-to-world robot product.'
- Fauna Robotics: acquired in March; its Sprout humanoid is 3.5 feet tall and has expressive yellow eyebrows.
- Astro: launched at $1,450 in 2021, invite-only, shipped to a few thousand customers.
- Job roles: field support engineer for on-site repairs and a UX designer to 'define what it feels like to live with a Fauna robot.'
