Why is the Roomba company worth $1.7 billion to Amazon? It’s not the dust, it’s the data.
. Should law enforcement or governments demand access, so much data about people in the hands of a single company poses the threat of being a single point of failure for democracy and human rights, Greer says., which it introduced last fall. At the time, Amazon senior vice president of devices and services David Limp said the company launched the robot with no defined use case.
Astro is currently only available by invitation only. Washington declined to share the number of Astro in people’s homes today or when Astro will be made generally available. Since launch, Amazon pushed an update to Astro that allows people to add rooms to a home map without the need to remap an entire home.
Amazon home robots are currently unable to coordinate activity between multiple units, but Washington said climbing stairs and coordination between Astros on multiple floors are part of the product development roadmap. Rather than hope that Astro catches on with a mass audience, the iRobot acquisition would give Amazon an instant home mapping presence at a huge scale.
It’s too early to tell, but the deal could face scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission. Privacy advocates have already been vocal in their opposition, and FTC chair Lina Khan has been deeply critical of acquisitions by Big Tech companies. The five-member commission solidified a 3-2 Democratic majority in May. And
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