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Thank you. From Wondry, I'm David Brown, and this is Business Wars Daily on this Wednesday, February 7th.

If you despise vacuuming, you're probably the owner of a Romba, or at least understand the hype around robot vacuums.

I-Robot released its first Roomba way back in 2002, and it's fair to say that machines change the game when it comes to keeping floors clean.

A vacuum is just one way robotics have seemingly taken over the home.

Name a household task, and, well, there's probably a robot on the market that'll do it for you.

Grow cleaning, lawn mowing, home security. You get the picture. In 2021, Amazon launched its own home robot, the Astro.

We should note that Amazon is the parent company of Wondery here. If you've seen the film Wally,

the Astro might look somewhat familiar, it's a compact robot on wheels that scoots around your

home checking on specific rooms, people, or things, whatever the homeowner needs. It can deliver

messages, curate shopping lists for faraway loved ones. You get the idea. Well, in August of 2022, Amazon decided that Astro was a little lonely.

So it set out to expand its robotic lineup through an acquisition of, well, you may have guessed it by now, I-Robot.

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