The company behind the Roomba robot vacuum, iRobot, has announced a partnership with Google that will allow the tech giant to utilize the autonomous vacuums ability to digitally map its user's home.Using a combination of photos and spatial data, the iRobot Roomba i7+ is able to create a detailed floorplan of a home, allowing its users to create cleaning schedules or issue specific room-based commands via the integrated Google Assistant functionality.Google hopes to leverage this map data in order to make the users smart home more thoughtful.
While specific functionality hasnt been detailed, some potential use cases given include a much easier setup process and more intelligent automation.For instance, once your connected products have access to your homes floorplan, theyll be able to figure out if they are in the kitchen, the living room and so on.
This could make it quicker to set up a connected light globe, door lock and more on a companion app.Google knows where you liveNaturally, there are some concerns to be had over one of the worlds biggest data-mongers also gaining access to a detailed map of your home, but Google promises this isnt as sinister as it sounds.Googles director of smart home technology, Michelle Turner, told The Verge that the data doesnt help current Google products and isnt getting fed into some larger morass of Google information, which implies that it wont be used for the companys ad-targeting network.While the map created by your Roomba gets saved to iRobot's servers, the low-res photos the droid takes never leave the device itself.
Regardless, you won't be forced to share your floorplan with Google as the option is completely voluntary.