Robot vacuum cleaner products are by far the largest category of consumer robots. They roll around on floors, hoovering up dust and dirt so we don’t have to, all while avoiding obstacles.
The industry leader, iRobot, has been cleaning up the robot vacuum market for two decades. Over this time, the company has steadily gained fans and a sterling reputation, including around security and privacy.
And then, something shocking happened. Someone posted on Facebook a picture of a woman sitting on the toilet in her home bathroom — a picture taken by a Roomba.
And the world responded: “Wait, what?!”
Why Robots Are Taking Pictures in Bathrooms
iRobot has continuously improved its products since introducing the first Roomba roughly 20 years ago. In 2015, these improvements started involving cameras. The 7th-generation Roomba sported an upward-facing camera for identifying “landmarks” like lamps and sofas to improve navigation. It also included a downward-facing infrared sensor for mapping the floor. These sensors work in tandem with onboard intelligence to process the visual data. Roombas can now recognize some 80 different objects commonly found in homes.
In other words, computer vision, which requires cameras, is one key to making home vacuum robots work better.
From a cybersecurity perspective, sensor-laden rolling robots of any kind fall into a special class. They’re equivalent to multiple IoT devices that can move all over the house, all while maintaining an internet connection.
Why Pictures Taken by Robots Ended Up on Facebook
According to an investigation by MIT Technology Review, iRobot claims that the bathroom-photo scandal has been misunderstood by the public.
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