iRobot adds Alexa integration, analytics to smart home
| iRobot now pinpoints your dirtiest floors, offers Alexa voice commands |
iRobot is bringing Amazon Alexa integration to its high-end vacuuming robots with a hefty dose of analytics via an app update that will provide post-cleaning maps as well as total space cleaned.
The combination of technologies from iRobot highlights the following:
- Analytics are coming to the smart home in larger doses;
- iRobot's app for its Roomba 900 Series vacuuming robots is akin to MyFitnessPal for cleaning;
- Amazon's Alexa is increasingly becoming a home operating system;
- The smart home is being mapped to add a new level of localization.
iRobot's Roomba 900 Series build maps via navigation tools and visual localization. These maps are then delivered via a Clean Map in the iRobot Home App. Data such as total area and duration for up to 30 cleaning jobs is supported. A patented technology called Leveraging Dirt Detect provides data on debris and focused cleaning areas.
Why middleware to manage robots will have to come to a home near you
As for Alexa, iRobot said a skill for Roomba vacuuming robots will be added in the second quarter.
Add it up and the updates to iRobot's Roomba 900 Series are a step to what CEO Colin Angle said is a "vision of an ecosystem of home robots that work collaboratively and further enable the smart home."