iRobot, a leader in consumer home robotics, announced updates to the iRobot HOME App that expand the value of connected Roomba vacuuming robots within the smart home for their customer base in India.
New Clean Map reports provide visual post-cleaning maps that display information about the robot's cleaning performance, such as the dirtiest floor areas and total space cleaned, while the integration of Amazon Alexa voice activated control will make communicating with a Roomba vacuuming robot a breeze.
"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, with voice-activated commands, enhanced mapping features and useful post-cleaning reports.
Combining adaptive navigation with visual localization, iRobot Roomba 900 Series vacuuming robots build a map of a home as they clean. Clean Map reports make these maps visible to customers in the iRobot HOME App after a cleaning job is complete, showing total area and duration a Roomba® 900 Series vacuum cleaned — for up to 30 cleaning jobs.
Leveraging Dirt Detect - an iRobot patented feature only found on Roomba vacuuming robots – Clean Map reports also provide users with information about where the robot encounters higher concentrations of dirt or debris, providing a more focused cleaning in those areas. With the addition of Clean Map reports, users can now have greater confidence in knowing the vacuuming is complete. Clean Map reports can be viewed in the History tab of the iRobot HOME App. 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 to the iRobot HOME App also includes push notifications that will alert users on job status, including when the robot is finished cleaning.
With Amazon Alexa, customers can start, stop and pause Roomba cleaning jobs with simple voice activated commands (e.g. "Alexa, ask Roomba to begin cleaning."). 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, such as the Roomba 900 Series.
Available for Android and iOS devices, the iRobot HOME App gives users more control over their connected cleaning products, such as the Roomba 900 Series Vacuum Cleaners and Braava jet Mopping Robot, with customized cleaning preferences, information about cleaning jobs, customized maintenance tips and direct access to customer support.
Asaf Merary of Puresight Systems, the sole distributor of iRobot in India said: “We are glad to extend our commitment to our Indian customers. Puresight and iRobot are very happy with the response our products have got in India and we are very positive about the future. We intend to continue to delight our existing customers with appliances that offer them the best value for their trust in our world class products. These are exciting next steps towards our vision of an ecosystem of home robots that work collaboratively and further enable the smart home."
