Amazon.com Inc. is discontinuing Astro for Business, a program that enabled businesses to monitor their facilities using the company’s Astro home robot.

TechCrunch reported the development today, citing an email to customers. The move comes less than a year after Astro for Business made its debut. Robots sold through the program are set to stop working later this year and customers will receive refunds.

Introduced in 2021, Amazon’s Astro robot was originally geared solely towards the consumer market. The machine uses a pair of wheels to navigate the user’s home and can carry objects weighing to 4.4 pounds in a built-in cargo bin. An Alexa-integrated smart display provides access to several apps.

Astro can automatically detect and maneuver around objects in its path using an array of onboard sensors. The main highlight of the sensor suite is a periscope camera, located just above the Alexa-integrated smart display, that can extend to a height of about 40 inches. Astro is also capable of detecting sounds such as breaking glass and smoke alarms.

Last November, Amazon launched its Astro for Business program to let companies apply the robot’s sensors to facility monitoring tasks. The program was geared toward small and medium-sized businesses. For $2,350, companies could purchase an Astro robot and use it to patrol a facility with up to 5,000 square feet of space.

Amazon offered three add-on subscriptions to the organizations that signed up. The first, Astro Secure, enabled users to program patrol routes into the robot and customize details such as the frequency at which it should repeat them. The $60-per-month plan also allowed the Astro to send alerts when it detected unusual sounds.

The two other Astro for Business subscriptions offered related features. For $20 per month, the Ring Protect Pro plan allowed the Astro to integrate with the motion, door and window sensors in a facility. Amazon also sold a $99 Virtual Security Guard subscription that enabled human agents to log into an Astro and drive it to a point of interest where an alert was generated.

Lindo St. Angel, the vice president of Amazon Devices, wrote in an internal memo obtained by GeekWire that “I am increasingly convinced the progress we’re making in home robotics is where we should focus our resources. To do this, and accelerate our progress further, we’ve made the decision to wind down the Astro for Business program to focus our efforts entirely on building the best consumer robotics products for the home.”

Robots sold through the Astro for Business program will stop working on Sept. 25. According to Amazon, customers will be refunded both for the cost of their Astro units and any prepaid subscriptions they may have bought. The robots are eligible for Amazon’s free electronics recycling program.

Amazon will provide Astro for Business customers with a $300 credit designed “to help support a replacement solution for your workplace.” Additionally, they will receive invites to the early access program through which the company sells the consumer version of the Astro. 

Image: Amazon