Amazon to buy vacuum maker iRobot

Great, another device to spy on the consumer. After mapping your house, Amazon will suggest more things to buy to fill the areas not already filled with Amazon boxes and cheap plastic stuff.

Su said it also illustrates the shortcomings of consumer robotics vendors like iRobot, which struggled to expand beyond a niche product and was in a “race-to-the-bottom” competition with Korean and Chinese manufacturers offering cheaper versions of a robotic vacuum.

iRobot's heritage are military and police robots. Their very first one is in the Smithsonian. The robotic vacuums came later. iRobot had to divest their military side due I believe to their use of Chinese production facilities for their robot vacuums. Their military robots are highly successful for their new corporate owner. I still smile remembering an Air Force airman at an airshow maneuvering his iRobot military robot over to my boot and carefully untying the laces with the little robot arm, all from a distance using what looked like a high end game controller and a laptop. I tried the robot but found orienting myself using the on board cameras very difficult. Lots of skill to operate one like this fellow did.

Btw, while the Chinese robot vacuums are certainly cheap, the Samsung robot vacuums are very expensive, more than many full sized conventional vacuums, but they clean a lot better than the Chinese ones. Ever price the top of the line Panasonic Rulo robot vacuum? $1,600 USD or thereabouts.

Well, if you have a house with Stairs, these Robot cleaners are confined to one floor - unless they're made to fly and open/close doors.

As for things made in China... I'd start being wary of such items, especially if IoT based.

We've got one but hardly use it. It's great for those who are tidy and have nothing lying around. It's also great for cleaning under the beds.

It's also great for cleaning under the beds.

With the right software app you can use the camera on the vacuum to find items that might have rolled under a couch or bed. Just make sure the vacuum is not in the same room with you when you want to be intimate with your significant other ^_^