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Roomba Is Mapping Your House to Make IoT Gadgets Smarter

With your permission, iRobot may sell maps of your home to third-party companies working on smart home devices.

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

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Have a Roomba? Maps of the inside of your home could soon wind up with tech companies like Apple, Amazon, or Google parent Alphabet.

In a recent interview with Reuters, iRobot co-founder and CEO Colin Angle said his company may sell maps of users' homes to third-party companies working on smart home devices. Collected by the company's high-end Roomba models, those maps include data about "the dimensions of a room as well as distances between sofas, tables, lamps, and other home furnishings," according to the report.

The company could reach a deal to sell this data in "the next couple of years," Angle tells Reuters. He reportedly thinks iRobot's mapping data can help smart home devices like lights, thermostats, and security cameras better understand their physical environment.

The news has, of course, raised privacy concerns. In a statement, Angle told PCMag said iRobot is "committed to the absolute privacy of our customer-related data, including data collected by our connected products.

"No data is sold to third parties," he said. "No data will be shared with third parties without the informed consent of our customers."

Right now, he said, the company is building maps "to enable the Roomba to efficiently and effectively clean your home." The company's top-of-the-line robot vacuum, the $900 Roomba 980, can, for instance, build a map of your home as it cleans, and keep track of its location until it has tidied up an entire level.

"In the future, with your permission, this information will enable the smart home and the devices within it to work better," Angle wrote. "For example, if you wanted your home to understand which connected lights were in which rooms so your voice command device would work better, your Roomba would be able to provide that. But to be clear, this is only if you opt in. It is still unclear what — if any — actual 'partnerships' would be needed to make that happen."

Meanwhile on the robotics front, the co-inventor of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, Joe Jones, recently unveiled a new product: the Tertill weed-killing robot. The cute little device is solar powered and waterproof; it lives in your garden, collecting sunlight during the day. Once the battery is fully charged, it starts roaming and hacking away at any weeds it passes over.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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