Making smart homes smarter

Robot vacuums are certainly a blessing for those who are looking for a smart way to clean their homes. They save a lot of time and demand almost negligible physical exertion. With these vacuums, one need not do dusting and mopping of any sort. Google has now associated with iRobot in order to make the vacuum cleaner more appropriate for your smart home. Google and iRobot have announced that they are collaborating with the aim of making smart homes more thoughtful, by using the unique dataset including maps of customers’ homes collected by iRobot. iRobot’s latest robot vacuum, Roomba i7+, creates maps using a combination of data created by measuring how far the robovac’s wheels move, and low-resolution camera imagery. The resulting maps can be used to create custom cleaning schedules or to let users ask their Roomba to vacuum specific rooms. An integration with Google Assistant lets the customers give verbal commands like, “OK Google, tell Roomba to clean the dining room”.

Though the company claims that the maps could be used to locate products like Wi-Fi-connected lighting, Google says it only accesses floor plans rather than 3D or spatial information. Michelle Turner, director of Google’s smart home ecosystem, is of the opinion that the aim of the company is not just to create a smart home, but a ‘thoughtful home’ that requires less input from users and adapts to their wants and needs.

However, the idea of Google using data about the users’ homes can be a matter of concern for many as there have been serious lapses from the company in maintaining the confidentiality of user data.