Rumba's iRobot is trying to sell household map data to Google, Apple, Amazon

IRobot, which manufactures Roomba (Rumba), the forerunner of the cleaning robot, has the concept of selling map information in the home. It seems that its purpose is to utilize it for smart homes where popularization approaches.

Roomba vacuum maker iRobot betting big on the 'smart' home
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-irobot-strategy-idUSKBN1A91A5

IRobot's CEO Colin Angle revealed that there is a plans to sell household map information collected by Rumba in response to Reuters' interview. Rumba's top model has a function to recognize and map the shape of the room and furniture arrangement, but it seems to sell the collected map data to external companies to make use of it to the smart home.


Although it is expected that the smart home market will continue to expand more and more, Angle CEO said, "Smart home terminals such as lighting, thermostat and security cameras are already on sale, but we recognize the physical environment in the home It is incomprehensible in terms of things. "By using detailed map information in the home, the services that smart home terminals can offer will expand.

For example, if you can grasp the arrangement of furniture in the home, it is possible to adjust so that the optimum sound can be obtained with the speaker. Air conditioning such as lighting and air conditioning can also be optimized according to the physical shape of the room.


According to Angle CEO, we plan to offer home map data gathered in Rumba to at least one big company of high-tech enterprise, Apple, Google, Amazon within a few years. In response to Reuters' inquiry, "Are you considering purchasing in-home map data from iRobot?" Amazon refused to reply and Apple and Google did not respond.

It is clear that privacy is the biggest obstacle for plans to compensate for the revenue that iRobot has lost due to commoditization with the entry into the smart home market by selling map data. Angle CEO says "We do not sell map data without user's consent", but I think most people who access smart home function should agree to utilize map data.