Home maps collected by Roomba could be sold to tech giants
- 7 years ago
BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS — The maker of Roomba robot vacuum iRobot said they could share or sell maps of users' homes to tech companies such as Amazon for profit.
The Roomba robot vacuum is equipped with a camera, and short-range infrared or laser sensors to detect and avoid obstacles when navigating in a home. Its simultaneous localisation and mapping technology allows it to build a map of the home while keeping track of its own location.
The CEO of iRobot, Colin Angle, told Reuters that such detailed mapping technology could enhance the existing smart home devices, by letting them to learn about the physical environment.
"There's an entire ecosystem of things and services that the smart home can deliver once you have a rich map of the home that the user has allowed to be shared," Angle told Reuters.
According to Reuters, Angle said the maps could be sold to tech giants such as Amazon, Apple and Google's parent company Alphabet in the next few years.
Angle said the company would not sell the data without customers' consent, but he is confident that most people would agree to it if they want to access smart home functions.
Amazon, Apple and Google did not comment on this issue.
The Roomba robot vacuum is equipped with a camera, and short-range infrared or laser sensors to detect and avoid obstacles when navigating in a home. Its simultaneous localisation and mapping technology allows it to build a map of the home while keeping track of its own location.
The CEO of iRobot, Colin Angle, told Reuters that such detailed mapping technology could enhance the existing smart home devices, by letting them to learn about the physical environment.
"There's an entire ecosystem of things and services that the smart home can deliver once you have a rich map of the home that the user has allowed to be shared," Angle told Reuters.
According to Reuters, Angle said the maps could be sold to tech giants such as Amazon, Apple and Google's parent company Alphabet in the next few years.
Angle said the company would not sell the data without customers' consent, but he is confident that most people would agree to it if they want to access smart home functions.
Amazon, Apple and Google did not comment on this issue.