Good news: Amazon is building a personal robot

According to CNBC, Amazon is in the middle of its project called “Vesta” that includes the creation of a smart, consumer-grade robot.

Bloomberg says the "Vesta project originated a few years ago, but this year Amazon began to aggressively ramp up hiring. There are dozens of listings on the Lab 126 Jobs page for openings like “Software Engineer, Robotics” and “Principle Sensors Engineer.”

The smart robots could be available as soon as 2019, as per the Bloomberg report. The report explains that the robots “will be equipped with cameras that let them drive around our homes.”

There were some key pieces of information missing from the report, however, including what exactly the robot would do or how it would function. The only hint was that “it might have features akin to an Amazon Echo.”

So, it seems reasonable to think that the robot will be able to speak in ways similar to Alexa, Amazon’s smart assistant. It may also offer security features similar to home alarms; who knows!

There are numerous companies that already sell robotic devices that can navigate around homes. The Roomba from iRobot equips vacuums with sensors that allow them to navigate and map the floorplan of a house autonomously. There's also the Winbot from Ecovacs Robotics that cleans windows without supervision.

CNBC believes Amazon’s smart robot will need to be just as good, or better than what is already on the market.

If Amazon’s robot goes to market, then it will be another in-home product being launched by the retailer. Other in-home products “include the Amazon Echo smart speaker, the Amazon Fire TV, and its Amazon Key in-home delivery service.”