Google wants to improve your smart home with iRobot room cards

Google and iRobot have announced that they are working together to improve smart home technology using mapping data collected by iRobot robot vacuums. The two companies say the goal is to make smart homes more "thoughtful" by leveraging the unique data set collected by iRobot: maps of customers' homes.

The latest iRobot Roomba, the i7 +, creates maps by combining odometry data (measuring the distance between Robovac wheels) and low-resolution camera images. The resulting maps can be used to create custom cleaning programs or to allow users to request their Roomba to vacuum specific parts. An integration with Google Assistant allows customers to give verbal orders such as "OK Google, tell Roomba to clean the kitchen".

Google and iRobot claim that this data will be useful for other smart devices. Maps can be used to locate products such as lighting connected to Wi-Fi, for example, by automatically assigning names and locations to lighting in the bedroom, kitchen, etc. client.

The CEO of iRobot, Colin Angle, said The edge that collaboration lays the foundation for future smart homes. "The idea is that when you say" Ok Google, turn on the lights in the kitchen, "you need to know what lights are in the kitchen, and if I say," OK, the future iRobot robot with one arm, go look for a beer, "he must know where the kitchen and the refrigerator are."

Michelle Turner, director of Google's smart home ecosystem, said the dream was not just about creating clever home, but a "thoughtful home" that requires less user intervention and adapts to their wants and needs. "We think that a well-thought house has a context," says Turner, "and that's something for which iRobot did an outstanding job."

Picture of Dan Seifert / The Verge

The idea that Google collects data on the physical configuration of users' homes will rightly upset some. Although Google does not have as bad a reputation as Facebook for data breaches and data breaches, it still has a number of serious shortcomings. This month, for example, the company admitted to having exposed the personal data of about 500,000 Google+ users, which led to the closure of the platform. He also announced he was reviewing access to Gmail by third-party companies after learning that many developers were reading and analyzing users' personal mail for marketing and data mining purposes.

Turner pointed out that the spatial information shared by iRobot would not be used in Google's lucrative advertising targeting business. "These data do not help current Google products," says Turner. "This data is not integrated with more Google information."

iRobot also stated in the past that it only wanted to use the spatial data collected by its devices to make smart products easier to use. Users' home maps created by Roomba i7 + are sent to the company's servers via Wi-Fi, but the low-resolution images used to make these maps (which mostly capture shadows and shadows ) remain on the device.

Angle emphasizes that sharing this information is also voluntary. "If we can help the Google ecosystem better understand the home – with full user permission, and the total ability to backtrack – then, owning a Roomba may make your smart home smarter, "he says. "Or even more thoughtful."