Amazon pours resources into smart home robot and upgraded Echo, report says
It's assigning more people to work on its Vesta robot, according to Bloomberg.
Amazon may be putting extra resources into a home robot project.
Amazon is reportedly putting more engineers to work on a smart home robot, a secret project called Vesta that was hinted at last year. The robot isn't ready for mass production yet.
The waist-high robot moves around on wheels, uses computer-vision cameras and may be a mobile version of Amazon voice assistant Alexa, according to Bloomberg, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the project.
The e-commerce giant will also release an upgraded version of its Echo speaker, which is apparently being developed at the same Sunnyvale, California, lab as Vesta, Bloomberg reported. The speaker may be wider than the current Echo to fit the additional components.
In an emailed response to the report, Amazon said it doesn't comment on rumors or speculation.
First published at 6:06 a.m. PT.
Updated at 8:30 a.m. PT: Adds Amazon response.
