Robot vacuum cleaner products are by far the largest category of consumer robots. They roll around on floors, hoovering up dust and dirt so we don’t have to, all while avoiding obstacles.
The industry leader, iRobot, has been cleaning up the robot vacuum market for two decades. Over this time, the company has steadily gained fans and a sterling reputation, including around security and privacy.
And then, something shocking happened. Someone posted on Facebook a picture of a woman sitting on the toilet in her home bathroom — a picture taken by a Roomba.
And the world responded: “Wait, what?!”
We’re quickly moving into a world of ubiquitous AI and computer vision. And these technologies need to be trained with real-world data. Locking that down, especially when these technologies involve hundreds or thousands of people around the world, is extremely difficult and likely to result in errors, leaks and hacks.
Here's what you need to know about how much your robot vacuum really sucks.