Focus on household

Amazon retires Astro security robot

As of September 25, Astro for Business will no longer work.(Bild: Amazon)

Amazon is retiring its security robot Astro for Business. The company justified the move with a shift in focus to household robots.

"To accelerate our progress and ongoing research to make Astro the best household robot, we've decided to end support for Astro for Business," Amazon said on Wednesday.

According to an internal memo to customers obtained by Reuters, the Astro for Business robot will no longer function as of September 25. Effective immediately, customers will no longer be billed for Astro Secure subscription fees and any unused prepaid fees will be refunded.

As compensation, Amazon will provide affected customers with a $300 credit towards an alternative workstation solution.

Round-the-clock monitoring
The e-commerce giant originally launched the robot in 2021 for private households only. Astro was designed to perform tasks such as home monitoring, routine and reminder settings, and music and TV playback.

It was launched for selected companies in November 2022. Priced at around 2350 dollars, it was only available in the USA and was designed to help customers monitor their business premises around the clock.