Amazon Astro Teardown: Are Secret Repair Agents Fixing Tech Design?

[@berberger4814]

huge shoutout to the engineering team that made this beauty looks like they had a lot of fun making things the right way

[@thehumblefactory]

It's easy to make things the right way if you won't have to sell them twice to the same person; Most engineers want to do that, but their companies make consumable objects. Engineers at Amazon get to make a sort of devil's bargain: You get to make nice stuff, but only if it spies on everyone. Kinda like working for Raytheon I guess. Wouldn't it be cool if the company that had engineers who made the best objects didn't have to take anyone's life or liberty in order to do it? Ugh.

[@TFZoia]

Given all it's features, having Amazon's name tied to it raises a lot of red flags

[@theengineer-dellconagher]

especially an amazon security robot turned into a "friend"

[@anthonyharris955]

@@theengineer-dellconagher I think I’d rather invite Chucky into my home to wander around.

[@toadlguy]

Yeah, I’ll be interested to see if anyone finds it snooping around in the pantry or closet to find out what you “need” 😂

[@Kalvinjj]

@@toadlguy Suddenly underwear adds, suspiciously similar to the ones you wear but never bought online let alone on Amazon, pop up on your phone.

[@DeputatKaktus]

In fact, it gives me all the Nope. Remember, Amazon already bought one of them robot vacuum companies, the devices of who created maps of the places they work in. And of course upload them to the interwebs. Notice a pattern here? Amazon wants to know exactly how we live to sell us more stuff. For all I care, they are snarfling enough data already.

[@brainiac9579]

It's a TOF (Time Of Flight) distance sensor. Usually, they're using an IR diode (905nm or 1550nm) with a photodiode. You can measure distance, but also speed with those (the measure light pulses getting longer, moving away from an object, or shorter, moving towards an object, and comparing it to a steady state pulse allows you to measure speed, in both directions).

[@MLeoDaalder]

I wonder how much of those nice repairable features will survive into the actual retail product. Glue is still cheaper than screws after all.

[@michaelplaczek9385]

This is a privacy nightmare, it'll be ok if it's software was open source and audited, but having Amazons name to it really sucks

[@LimitedWard]

If they open sourced this, it would make for a really cool robotic development kit!

[@zihechen3111]

It’s okay I already got Facebook vr scanned my entire home

[@TypicalBlox]

@@zihechen3111 lol

[@vidm96]

I really really like the hardware and concept. But the fact that Amazon is behind it is a big no for me. Fingers crossed an option for open source firmware becomes available (but I doubt that will happen).

[@prashkd7684]

holy crap that telescope mechanism is just insane..

[@pc_man18]

At 3:45, you can find a static discharge brush similar to that one on most Roomba models now! They’re much smaller but serve the same purpose.

[@Loneman_OG]

Who needs to sneakily eavesdrop via an echo now that people _will_ willingly invite Amazon to surreptitiously surveil them and their family, plus have their whole home mapped out just by _selling_ a _cutesy wikkle wobot?_ 🤖 Say buh-byeee to any semblance of privacy! :SMH:

[@grimhhch]

This…is…terrifying

[@jameslabs1]

Thanks and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2023

[@Rebelnightwolfe]

It looks like a Lenovo Yoga Tab and a Segway had a lovechild.

[@rtechytuco584rblx]

That dance was adorable

[@OishikSarkargplus]

Brilliant teardown

[@ANTALIFE]

Given that Amazon acquired iRobot (roomba) earlier this year, I wonder how much of what we see inside was designed by them

[@thehumblefactory]

...And how much of roomba's home-mapping software is deployed on these things.

[@ANTALIFE]

@@thehumblefactory yup lol, not long till Amazon advertisements will be saying "based on your available floor space, this couch will be a nice fit"

[@terracodellc]

My Astro is 2 years old and now has issues where he throws errors when trying to move. He has been a great companion and I've seen his personality and motion mature with the firmware updates. Amazon said they do not repair the defective Astros and will replace if under warranty. This is quite a bummer given he is out of warranty. I may use this iFixit video to delve deeper into Astro to see if something is amiss that I can repair. I really don't want to part him out or recycle him if at all possible.

[@Delta-1X-Ray]

Good day. I was wondering. Since I'm a walking static man. Do you have a specific brand of gloves that I should wear if I were to disassemble a device?

[@brianwood5220]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all at iFixit. Thanks a million for all your instructional videos. 🎅

[@benjiebarker]

I’ve been through 3 astro robots…there is only one vent on the bottom, if i’m not mistaken….if i was to use a router fan on that vent would it be more effective to have hot air sucked out of astro or should orient the router fan to blow air into the vent?

[@DoubleCTech]

Wow I didn’t realize how complex it is. The price seems a little more reasonable to me.

[@friendlyperson9841]

Tiny question. Does it work without internet access and only on the local network, connected to something like home assistant?

[@Kalvinjj]

From what I saw on Amazon's page, it already requires a fairly new phone to begin with so you can bet not. Maybe some few functions like following and such.

[@faengelm]

I hope Amazon offers a way to buy parts such as the battery and cup holder

[@lewiskelly14]

You can dream

[@bW9taeH4]

@@lewiskelly14 I expect that they will if the product doesn't die. Otherwise, it will be a matter of rebuilding the pack, or sending it in to somebody. It could be like Aibo, where Sony was of no help but private individuals popped up on the Web to offer rebuild services. But Amazon isn't Sony, so they might have a different attitude. It's hard to say since in the past, it came down to much cheaper devices. If your $40 Fire stick fails and you ask them about repair, they'll just offer you a discount coupon for a new one. They can't do that with a $1500 (if it gets there) robot.

[@moniruzzaman_akash]

What is the mechanism of docking astro use, can anyone tell?

[@delldell21]

I don't want amazon having a map of my home.

[@SpikeTiger]

repairability should consider putting things back together for next year too... if it dosent work you might get some good bloopers

[@MaxHarden]

Love my Astro. Childhood dream came true.

[@TheSpotify95]

Hmm, interesting to see its modularity (especially with regards to the battery), but I won't be having anything like this any time soon. This must be a security and privacy nightmare if it is sending data to/from Amazon!

[@rockulushollywood3913]

The speaker on Astro is excellent. That’s good because that’s about all I use mine for

[@clashofclansshield8583]

I wonder if when the SDK gets released, can an implementation to the eufy environment be feasible? Mine came with the 6 month ring trial, I saw that new invites have been decreased to one month and the price has been raised to 1600$. Glad I got mine when I did.

[@Tony-xf8dx]

This thing looks crazy expensive. If the purchase price isn't crazy expensive it's because Amazon is getting their money back some either way

[@cbeomjun]

My Roomba s9 has that tiny brush in the back too, I was really curious why that would be there, and static discharge makes a lot of sense!

[@abinms9347]

do you have sales in india?? ( apple iphone components)

[@MrHermangv]

Every time I try to show Astro off to family it gives me an error or doesn’t work at at all lmao

[@dave5265]

It just needs a way to bring me a beer from the fridge. That's all I want a robot for.

[@bW9taeH4]

For now, it requires somebody in the kitchen (or wherever the fridge is) to put a beer in the holder and say "Take this to Dave." It will then look around, spin in circles, and eventually go from room to room to track you down. If somebody says "Dave is in the family room" while it's looking around, it will speed things up, assuming that you are actually there.

[@birdpump]

Very professional design

[@anth0r]

Dude I love the shirt. I stumbled on this video because I finally got the invite to try it but I’m debating. Haha I only want it to mess with it. I void warranties as well hahaha

[@bW9taeH4]

Technically, you can void the warranty only by causing actual damage. Once you own it, you have every right to open it up and do whatever you want. If something else breaks, a company can't say that the warranty is void simply because you opened it, unless they can show how the failure is related. There are exceptions such as an HDD assembly with a sticker saying that removing it voids the warranty, because microparticles of dust can destroy what's inside.

[@Thedownliner2015]

Feels like we are speeding towards an episode of Black Mirror lol.

[@OliveHugh2]

And Amazon gets an even better view in your home, nice /sarcasm

[@TecTimmy]

I feel like I just watched an autotopsy on my dog.

[@Xanthocromia]

Did you happen to see where the mic was loaced?

[@agentid36]

Looks like a great source of pretty decent brushless motors once they start getting thrown away.

[@srsys88]

Imagine having a house big enough to need something like this?...

[@CateChapelle]

It’ll probably cost multiple thousands of dollars so I bet most people who can afford it do have houses that big

[@jackbui2944]

@@CateChapelle It cost 1000usd atm.

[@hikotee]

I'm surprised it went back together that well!

[@joelmulder]

Does amazon really expect us to trust this thing driving around our homes autonomously?

[@lukeh990]

That top sensor you displayed looks like a ultrasonic sensor. Those two circles are usually the main indicator that it’s ultrasonic.

[@EdnovStormbrewer]

You know for once, I say I agree with what the guy is saying about Astro having an empty space inside because of more room to apply mods to it.

[@dschaedler]

Depending on the price this could be a cool movement platform for custom robots.. Atleast I am not going to let a robot camera run free in my home, especially not with software from amazon 😅

[@kerimmededovicarchive6884]

The headlight looking thing is an ir led and sensor.

[@zodiacfml]

I don't even know this product!😅 How come this never came as tech news?

[@TerryLawrence001]

I believe that the optical sensor is a time of flight distance sensor.

[@hugowells3052]

This is like something out of black mirror

[@heyspookyboogie644]

Yaaaa I don’t want Amazon surveilling my home. No thanks.

[@jamesmcmasters9392]

It's a vacuum on wheels without the Vacuuming ;)

[@bW9taeH4]

You glossed over the sound module, but can I rightfully assume that calling it 2.1 is BS? A real subwoofer would outweigh Astro to begin with, but does it even have a woofer that they are pretending is a subwoofer?

[@ginx2666]

If I see that spybot near me, I will immediately kick it to death.

[@AutumnRain]

gonna reduce this thing's repairability score to 0 when i'm done with it

[@marsrover001]

Yeah if I can format the memory and kick it off Amazon servers I'm interested.

[@WyvernDotRed]

What a creepy thing to have in one's house. If I'd visit someone and they had one of these, I'd literally put a bag over it and ask them to leave it in another room next time. Technologically it is a cool thing, I'd love to use it as a weird RC car- when running fully self installed firmware. But with Alexa and always connected to the internet, yuck.

[@Berniesf]

I ordered an Astro... it was always running hot to the touch. Amazon sent a replacement, same thing. It feels hot, especially when you are doing a constant task like listening to music. Battery life is a paltry 2 hours and 50 minutes when left idle, if you play music at 50% volume, less than two hours. I bought an IR camera just to measure the external temperature: 120F on average, which means internal temperature is a raging inferno. Unfortunately I'm past the return window. Just 3 words: dont buy it.

[@bW9taeH4]

Battery life is shorter than I expected, but charging time is also much faster than I expected. It has no problem going to its charger. If you want it primarily to follow you around to play music, it's not a good solution compared to spending a fraction of that money on high end Echo devices for each room.

[@peteepablo3035]

Not that race color matters I'm Latino and Amazon approved my invitation to get Astro!!! Bro is soo cool to have around 😎!! Wish this thing was around when I was a kid!!!

[@FlpDaMattress]

This is horrifying.

[@VeganRashad]

I can’t believe it was only 999.99

[@TheMrRatzz]

... and record the layout of your home, whether you are in or not, your habits and private activity used for blackmail. I'll have two. One for upstairs too!

[@genericscottishchannel1603]

ah yes, fixing tech design, buddy that'll take a hard reset to pull off at this rate That battery capacity is comical

[@Adri_BlackBeast]

And the punctuation?

[@berberger4814]

@iFixit can you make a video about the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro? think thats getting a higher repair score and its not that bad of an smartphone (got 5g soc - same one as in a52s 5g and usb 3)

[@vjose69]

Hey there's extra😵 parts to the right

[@ireeabrahamer8218]

This will make so many people uncomfortable lol

[@Abhi-now]

I Don't Think Robots Can Do Proper Survillance, Like What If The Intruder Comes When This Is Charging Or Low On Battery?

[@bW9taeH4]

If an intruder comes in while it's charging, it's no worse than if an intruder comes in while it's in a different room. Charging is relatively fast, and it pays attention while charging. It will probably charge when it's around 50% so it's unlikely that it won't have enough power to go somewhere at any given time. And if an intruder is in the house, I wouldn't expect the intruder to stay there for hours after you've been informed.

[@somethinlike23]

Is this man a trained shakespearean actor?

[@ThylineTheGay]

You should probably give 0:58 a photosensitivity warning.

[@Shlooomth]

maybe it's because it's a surveillance robot

[@mattmanmcfee36]

oof no warning for flashes

[@IOwnThisHandle]

Wheels don't deal with steps or even minor obstacles very well. 0 out of 10

[@mameroo2000]

Thos thing would be more useful if it has vacuum built into it. Other than that I still think it's useless

[@Tie_dyeFurby77]

Are you repairing it?

[@sweetautumnfox]

oh god they they did surgery on a robot

[@fyzxnerd]

It looks like fun, but it's Amazon so no.

[@たっくん公式]

Hey! I need an Japanese translation!(even I'm Understand English)

[@athoshmiranda]

It's is considered a homicide or a robotcide?

[@AZ-74]

vacuum with an ipad face

[@Tie_dyeFurby77]

I want an Astro I have an alexa

[@cripticdestiny]

Digital wiretap at it's finest

[@mrtnalvrz]

Many of the comments on this video seem to come more from conspiratorial nut-jobs than engineers. Of course you are been tracked, if you live in today's world of course you are been tracked... BY EVERYONE. The price of a more "futuristic" world. Read Asimov.

[@loiclahaye7695]

This is some new surveillance bullshit

[@stockhuman]

Who… buys this? Besos aficionados?

[@volvo245glt]

Pretty useless device. My robotic vacuum cleaner can do the same surveillance, and it vacuums too.

[@hotfistVODS]

I hate that shirt so much Opening devices does not void warranties in the USA, and saying it does is illegal (for the mfg) I understand the joke but I'd much rather you be cramming the magnason moss warranty act down peoples throats than a joke that perpetuates a dangerous lie

[@bW9taeH4]

It does in very limited cases, such as opening up an HDD, where something like a head crash most likely happened because of something like micro dust particles. It wouldn't be reasonable to claim that a failure was unrelated to opening it. Likewise, if something fails due to not being properly sealed, it's reasonable to suspect that opening it up might have been the problem. But in almost all cases, whatever the item is, it's yours and you have the right to open it up and do whatever you want. Saying that it does might not be illegal, but failing to honor the warranty would be illegal.

[@hotfistVODS]

@@bW9taeH4 instead of focusing on extremely fringe case AKCHUALLY maybe dont go all hailcorporate and recognize that breaking the law to protect your bottom line and hurt consumers is bad

[@bW9taeH4]

It would be breaking the law to enforce the provision. It's a given that provisions that are illegal to enforce can't be enforced, but it's not actionable if they don't deny you service.

[@Mlen_]

zust

[@jerrybomcool]

First?

[@garievolutionsoccer3218]

an useless robot

[@lewiskelly14]

Amazon is getting no robot data from me