Amazon publicly unveiled its first home robot, Astro, back in September, after working to develop the device in secret for the past several years.

A robot?

Yes.

Astro is 17 inches tall with a 10-inch display, a rear cargo hold, and a periscoping camera. It rolls around

autonomously on two wheels. Basically, it's a mobile echo device, responding to questions in the

voice of Alexa. Astro otherwise communicates through beeps and blips and a pair of expressive

digital eyes in the form of simple animated emoticons on its display.

What are we going to do with a robot?

In an introductory video, the company anticipated the skepticism Astro would face.

Well, Astro, follow me. In this fictional world, of course, Astro wins people over with its ability to navigate autonomously through a house.

Serve as a mobile security sentry and a video conferencing hub.

Check the stove with its periscoping camera, help family members check in on older relatives, start a dance party,

and deliver a drink to someone on the couch.

Thank you.

All right.

Oh, man.

In the real world, however, Astro still has some convincing to do.

CNET's David Priest summed up the reaction in this review.

Astro is a solution in search of a problem.

It's cool, undeniably, and I'm excited to see what home robots look like in the near future.

But for now, Astro remains an interesting device with a lot of promise, but too little utility

to really be worth that price tag.

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