Amazon spent years selling a $1,450 rolling tablet called Astro to a few thousand invite-only households. Some of those owners now talk about it like a roommate they cannot quite evict. Meanwhile Amazon formed a Personal Robotics Group, bought a New York humanoid startup, and is hiring for a “new-to-world robot product.” The cute one in the photos is Sprout: 3.5 feet tall, soft shell, expressive yellow eyebrows. Astro was a screen on wheels. Round two has eyebrows.
That is the punchline of Annie Palmer’s Nov. 8 CNBC report, and we are here for the tragicomedy.
Meet Sprout.
Today, we’re releasing a new kind of robotics platform. One designed to move out of the lab and into the real world, closer to the people who will shape what robots become next. [1/4]
— Fauna Robotics (@faunarobotics) January 27, 2026
Astro owners: party trick, trip hazard, trash heap
CNBC’s Palmer recounts Bezos pushing a home robot back in 2017, which became Astro: an Alexa-equipped tablet on wheels that maps the house, recognizes faces, and plays security cam. Launch price: $1,450. It never left invite-only. Only a few thousand units shipped. An Astro for Business followed in 2023 and got sunset in under a year.
Emily Lugo Velez, an Astro owner in North Carolina since 2023, told CNBC she and her husband still check pets and appliances with it, but mostly it is a party trick and a “trip hazard.” Her money line: they will let it “run around the house until it eventually dies, then send it to the trash heap.” Most days she just tells it to dock. Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told CNBC Astro customers are still supported, even as Facebook groups gripe about service and Alexa+ missing from the bot.
Former VP of consumer robotics Ken Washington said he pushed for a bipedal robot; leadership disagreed. iRobot co-founder Colin Angle, talking about why a second try might go better, said the Astro-era toolkit was “clubs with nails in them.” Charming.
Enter Sprout, yellow eyebrows and all
In March 2026 Amazon acquired Fauna Robotics, the New York startup behind Sprout. Fauna’s own announcement says it joined Amazon on March 24, will keep selling Sprout Creator Edition to developers, and will operate as Fauna Robotics, an Amazon company under a Personal Robotics Group. CNBC’s earlier acquisition story pegged Sprout at about $50,000 as a 3-foot-6 bipedal developer platform; Fauna’s product page lists 107 cm height, 22.7 kg, 29 degrees of freedom, soft exterior, and those articulated eyebrows. It has been aimed at developers, commercial users, and researchers, not a Best Buy aisle.
Palmer’s Nov. 8 piece says Amazon is hiring around a home robot that navigates “dynamic home environments” and wants machines that are “not just functional, but delightful.” Job posts talk about living with a Fauna robot. Glasser’s statement: Amazon bought Fauna because it is “committed to tackling the challenges that can unlock the personal robotics category,” while admitting the gap between lab demos and living rooms is still huge.
GadgetKing take
Amazon already proved it can flood warehouses with robots. Homes are messier: kids, dogs, stairs, and people who paid $1,450 for a roaming Echo and got a wheeled tablet that naps on its dock. Sprout looks shareable because it looks like a character, not a security camera with anxiety. That does not mean a consumer SKU is shipping next quarter. It means Bezos’ home-robot itch is still scratched with venture acquisitions and yellow eyebrows while Astro owners debate eBay.
If Amazon’s next home bot can actually fetch a drink without eating the dog’s toys, Joe Martin in Arizona told CNBC he would be intrigued. Until then, Astro keeps charging, Sprout keeps demoing, and the rest of us keep screenshots of those eyebrows.
No consumer buy link here: Astro is invite-legacy, Sprout Creator Edition is a developer platform, and Amazon has not announced a new home SKU. Official stops: faunarobotics.com and here.
Sources: CNBC / Annie Palmer (Nov. 8, 2026), CNBC acquisition story (Mar. 24, 2026), Fauna joins Amazon, Sprout product page, Fauna Sprout intro (Jan. 2026) and @faunarobotics Meet Sprout. Images: AP via CNBC (01); GadgetKing contrast card (02); Fauna brand/product stills (03, 04); CNBC / Fauna Rob Cochran portrait (05).
More robots trying to live with humans: Tau’s teleoperated robot maids, robot dogs racing Mount Tai and Curbie hauling the trash bin.
