Amazon Assembles a New Home Robot Team After Astro

Amazon is assembling a new Personal Robotics Group built around humanoid startup Fauna to attempt a home robotics reboot after its Astro model stalled out, according to a report by CNBC News.

The e-commerce giant is officially making a second major push into consumer robotics. Five years after introducing its niche Astro home companion, internal job listings and recent corporate acquisitions confirm that Amazon has quietly assembled a dedicated Personal Robotics Group.

The publication notes that Amazon’s new robotics team is charged with building a brand-new, consumer-focused robot designed from the ground up to navigate chaotic, everyday domestic environments alongside families.

This latest effort centers on Fauna Robotics, a New York-based startup that Amazon acquired earlier this year. Founded in 2024 by former Meta and Google engineers, Fauna developed Sprout, a compact 3.5-foot bipedal humanoid developer platform weighing roughly 22.7 kilograms. Designed specifically for shared human spaces, Sprout features a soft touch exterior, compliant motor controls that yield to external pressure, and integrated time-of-flight sensors to navigate safely around obstacles and people.

Although Fauna continues to operate as an Amazon subsidiary selling its $ Creator Edition to researchers and commercial software developers, its core engineering team of roughly 50 employees has been folded directly into Amazon’s internal hardware initiatives.

CNBC reports that Amazon has redeployed key personnel from the original Astro project to work alongside the newly acquired team under the leadership of prominent robotics experts.

Recent job posts for the group describe the initiative as a “new-to-world robot product.” Rather than relying on simple teleoperation or static laboratory environments, the listings highlight the need for advanced autonomous behaviors, custom fleet infrastructure, and dynamic spatial mapping capable of adjusting to real-world household clutter.

When Astro launched in 2021 as a $1,450 wheeled display on mobile treads, it was pitched as an autonomous home patrol unit and smart display assistant. However, Astro never advanced past its invite-only release stage, reaching only a few thousand households globally before consumer interest plateaued.

Amazon officially discontinued the commercial business edition of Astro, though the company maintains software support for existing residential units.