iRobot expands home robot intelligence with Amazon Alexa
Roomba owners have been able to control their robot vacuums with Alexa voice commands since 2017, but the experience has always been fairly basic. Users could tell the robot to start and stop cleaning or set a schedule, but the interaction was too robotic.
Today that changes with iRobot's new Alexa Skill, which uses the company's Genius software platform for smarter and more convenient voice commands. iRobot, a leader in consumer robots, has teamed up with Amazon to further improve the voice intelligence of home robots, making them more thoughtful and better suited to smart home automation.
As the first robot vacuum that lets users clean specific rooms by voice with Alexa, iRobot combines recent advances in navigation, object recognition and artificial intelligence to give smart home customers powerful tools to easily control where, when and how their robots clean.
iRobot vacuums and mops with Imprint Smart Mapping technology, built on iRobot Genius Home Intelligence, know how to best move through floors, remember specific rooms and furniture, and clean where it matters most. Using Alexa, iRobot customers can automate routines, personalize cleaning and control how their homes are cleaned.
Through interactive conversations with Alexa, along with predictive and proactive recommendations, users can gain a new level of personalization and control over their unique homes, schedules, preferences and devices. iRobot robots with Alexa offer customers a wide range of voice capabilities and services for vacuums and mops that go beyond basic start and stop commands, including:
- Roomba, clean around (object) — use Alexa to send the robot to clean up messes exactly where they are, with precise cleaning zones. Roomba can clean around specific items that cause the most common messes, such as sofas, tables and kitchen countertops. Simply ask Alexa to say "Roomba, clean near the sofa" so the robot knows exactly where to go.
- iRobot scheduling with Alexa Voice Service — thanks to Alexa's advanced language understanding, customers can interact more naturally, directing their robot by voice to schedule cleaning routines. For example: "Alexa, tell Roomba to clean the kitchen every weekday evening at 7 PM" or "Alexa, tell Braava to mop the kitchen every Sunday after lunch."
- Alexa announcements — the voice assistant can tell customers about their robot's status, such as when it needs help or has finished cleaning, even if your phone is not nearby.
- Alexa predictions — the best time to clean is when no one is home. If Alexa detects that the home is empty, it can start cleaning.
“Smart home products often fail to meet consumer expectations because they require complex programming for basic functionality and cannot truly interact with the user. We believe robots should be thoughtful, responsive and understandable according to each user's unique preferences. The combination of advanced navigation, object recognition and cutting-edge voice technology lets people interact with them more naturally and gain greater control over their smart device. We are excited to discover even more intuitive cleaning and smart home experiences by working with Amazon to integrate advanced voice capabilities”
According to Angle, when Amazon first developed Alexa, one of the first concepts discussed was the ability to use voice commands to control Roomba vacuums. Given iRobot's drive to make its device smarter — the latest Roomba has enough cameras and smart sensors to detect objects, even pet waste — it was only a matter of time before it focused on voice support.
iRobot and Amazon will continue working together to improve cleaning and other smart home capabilities by developing additional convenient voice interactions and home automation. For example, with the latest iRobot Genius update, iRobot and Amazon customers can now hold a two-way dialogue with their robots to improve the overall experience.
Through Alexa, a Roomba robot vacuum or Braava robot mop can tell the user when cleaning is finished, when it needs help, or even ask its owner to clarify a specific cleaning task. Soon iRobot customers will be able to set a Do Not Disturb mode for their connected Roomba vacuum or Braava mop. If a user tries to start cleaning during a previously set Do Not Disturb period, the robot will ask the owner whether they want to proceed.
“Technology works best when it fades into the background, letting you be more present in the world around you. That is why we are building a future in which devices, services and artificial intelligence work together to create proactive and personalized experiences. We are excited to bring these capabilities to iRobot customers, adding Alexa features that let them interact with their cleaning robots in new ways”
iRobot is a leading global consumer robot company that designs and builds devices that help people do more both inside and outside the home. The company created the category of home cleaning robots when it introduced the Roomba robot vacuum in 2002. Today iRobot has sold more than 30 million robots worldwide. Its product line, including the Roomba and Braava floor cleaning robots, features patented technologies and advanced cleaning, mapping and navigation concepts. The company's engineers build an ecosystem of robots and technologies for the smart home.
