iRobot has updated its iRobot Home App in an effort to expand the value of connected Roomba vacuuming robots within the smart home.
“iRobot is aggressively pursuing opportunities within the connected home to improve our customers’ experience with our cleaning robots,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “The latest updates for the iRobot Home App make cleaning with an iRobot Roomba vacuuming robot even more user friendly. These are exciting next steps towards our vision of an ecosystem of home robots that work collaboratively and further enable the smart home.”
The update includes a new Clean Map report, said to provide visual post-cleaning maps that display information about the robot’s cleaning performance, such as the dirtiest floor areas and total space cleaned. Once the map is opened, users can manipulate the map on the screen with their fingers, zooming and panning from room-to-room to see where Dirt Detect events occurred.
The update also includes push notifications that will alert users on job status, including when the robot is finished cleaning. The company has also integrated Amazon Alexa voice activated control. Customers can start, stop and pause Roomba cleaning jobs with voice-activated commands.
The Home App update is now available for iOS and Android users. The Alexa skill for Roomba vacuuming robots will be available to U.S. customers in Q2 2017 and is compatible with any connected Roomba vacuum.
