Codename Burnham: Amazon has a secret new home robot with ChatGPT-like features that understands a lot more of its surroundings
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. is developing an upgraded version of its You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. to make it better understand what it observes and respond to things more intelligently, Insider has learned.This is part of a secret new You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. robot project, internally codenamed "Burnham," that adds a layer of "intelligence and a conversational spoken interface" to Astro, according to internal documents obtained by Insider. Called "Contextual Understanding," Amazon describes the new technology as "our latest and most advanced AI technology designed to make robots more intelligent, more useful, and conversational," the documents show.
The company often encourages staff to imagine future press releases for new technology they are developing. In one of these documents related to Burnham, Amazon describes an Astro product that costs $995. There's an additional "Burnham Plus" $24.99 monthly fee for standard home monitoring features, and Burnham Plus with You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. doorbell camera would be $34.99 a month, according to this document.
Burnham is a broader initiative that could support a host of other products. The technology "remembers what it saw and understood," and derives meaning from those interactions, the documents said. It can also engage in a Q&A dialogue on what it saw and understood, using large language model-based technology commonly found in apps like You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., and take appropriate actions based on that.
- For instance, if Burnham finds a stove left burning or a water faucet running unattended, it will find the owner and bring it to their attention, the document said.
- If an elderly man slips in the kitchen, Burnham can check to make sure he's ok, and call others to come help. If it's an emergency situation, Burnham will automatically call 911.
- Owners can ask Burnham where they left their keys.
- It can check whether the kitchen window was left open last night.
- The robot can also monitor whether the kids had friends over after school.
The move represents the next phase of growth for Astro, a heavily-invested, Alexa-powered home monitoring robot that so far appears to have failed to live up to Amazon's lofty expectations. Despite You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., Astro has faced You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. and You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., and is You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., as it You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., even after 18 months since its launch.
It's also the latest example of Amazon incorporating generative AI and LLM technology into its existing products and services, as competitors like Microsoft and Google race ahead in the AI chatbot market. Amazon is planning to upgrade its Alexa voice-technology with ChatGPT-like features, You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., while it wants to build AI tools to auto-generate photos and videos for advertisers, You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.. Amazon's CFO Brian Olsavsky You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. that more investment dollars are shifting from its core logistics business to such AI and LLM technologies.
In an email to Insider, Amazon's spokesperson said Astro is "off to a very promising start" and that invite requests "remain strong," without providing specific numbers.
"We're excited by the potential of generative AI technologies, and are looking forward to using these technologies to invent new experiences for Astro that will delight customers and make their lives even easier in the future," the spokesperson said.
'Convinced it will work'
The idea for Burnham was inspired by a research paper in the field of large language models. As LLMs were growing in scale, they started demonstrating "emergent skills in both inference and problem-solving," one of the Amazon documents stated. Inference happens when AI models make predictions from new data.For example, with LLMs, Amazon found that home robots could go beyond simple detection of on-off or open-closed discoveries, such as spotting if a light was not switched off or a door left open. Instead, they could now handle more complex tasks like detecting broken glass on the floor and knowing that glass shards are dangerous and need to be swept up before someone steps on it, the documents show.
Amazon ran a conceptual demo to test its new home robot's ability to demonstrate inference and problem-solving capabilities. The test was a success. "You can imagine our excitement as we understood what this would mean for our robot," one of the documents said. "We know we still have a long way to go before Burnham can be put into a product but we have learned enough to be convinced it will work."
Like other teams at Amazon, the Astro unit faced severe cost pressures over the past year, according to a person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because they're not authorized to speak to the press. The team axed an internal plan to release a lower-cost model last year, and instead, You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now. a new focus on small business security.
The future of the Burnham project
Burnham may not be limited to just one product. In one of the internal documents, Amazon defines Burnham as a "set of core technologies — not a product in itself," and says it expects Burnham to "appear in a series of future robots."Burnham could test the limits of large language models as Amazon attempts to move the AI technology out of the digital sphere and into real-life physical settings — in this case, into the center of your home.
Amazon appears convinced that Burnham is a significantly improved version of home monitoring that "brings peace of mind to the family that within their home, all is well," according to the documents.
"Burnham's friendly personality, social awareness, and conversational fluency ensure it is exceptionally useful and would be welcome as a junior family member in any home," it said.