A Brief History of Adorable, Vaguely Creepy Robot Dogs

Amazon unveiled a long-awaited home robot on Tuesday, and he may or may not be a good boy. Like an extremely advanced puppy, "Astro" is designed to move around the home and assist its owner with small tasks like checking whether the stove is on, playing music, and delivering drinks. The robot can also recognize the faces of certain people and is equipped with a periscope camera that it can raise to get a better view of its surroundings. Amazon says that it will be available sometime later this year on an invite-only basis for $999. Astro is about 20 pounds and two feet tall, about the size of a small dog.