Roomba Maker Wants To Sell What Data Device Collects When Mapping Your Home
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) — The company that owns most of the robot vacuum market wants to sell the data the cleaning device collects when it maps your house.
The latest Roomba has a camera to learn the lay of your land. As it cleans a house, software processes the images and builds a map of the place.
Roomba maker iRobot thinks that's valuable data that would make smart home devices smarter.
CEO Colin Angle told Reuters they're looking to make a deal with Amazon, Apple, or Alphabet that would put what he calls the "rich map of the home" inside the brain of Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant.
Knowing room size and shape could help connected heating and air conditioning systems put out the proper flow. Smart speakers could EQ themselves.
Don't own those or other products? The data could help market you some.
Angle told KYW Newsradio the company will protect privacy and only sell what the Roomba picks up if those who use it approve.