iRobot Corporation revealed their new operating system for their latest robot cleaning lineup, iRobot OS, offering a better customer experience.
While tech companies continue to make cleaning robots closer to Disney’s loveable Wall-E character, the Roomba automated cleaning devices have taken care of us humans for years now—pretty much the last decade. Today, iRobot officially announced their newest operating software, iRobot OS, a few steps beyond the Genius Home Intelligence system their robots used before.
The company has proven the success of the iRobot OS with its software already implemented in the Roomba j7 series vacuums that have tackled over 2.7 million tasks since they launched in September 2021. “As iRobot expands its ecosystem of connected robots and smart home devices, we are placing a strategic emphasis on superior software intelligence delivered on high-performance, beautifully designed hardware,” said the chairman and CEO of iRobot, Colin Angle.
The announcement reiterated the awesome features of the Roomba j7 and j7+ robot vacuums, from being a great pet environment cleaner to a great human habitat sweeper. One of the highlights of its pet cleaning solutions was the Pet Lock and Keep Out Zones functions that allowed pet owners to set zones to avoid like pet water dishes or could even be set to clean on a pet’s shedding schedule—not 100% accurate but a suggested time. TikTok and Instagram have many videos of interesting interactions between pets and Roombas, if you want to see more.
The tech cleaning company noted that the iRobot OS in the j7 robots have detected more than 43 million objects in people’s homes, ranging from shoes, socks, cords, headphones, clothing, towels to solid pet waste. iRobot guaranteed their robots could spot and avoid over 80 common household products it would not have to clean, and they hope to expand that roster to prevent customers from coming home to a Roomba spreading knocked over tomato sauce all over their kitchen floor—yikes!
The iRobot OS also implements about 600 voice commands that are compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri. It was said that these robots powered by this OS could understand more voice commands better than any other cleaning robot, even if they ask it to clean specific areas such as “around the couch.”
Angle added, “iRobot OS brings it all to life, enabling products that understand the home environment, respect customer preferences and intuitively connect with the smart home ecosystem to get the job done.
iRobot OS lets our robots get smarter and clean even more effectively over time, delivering valuable new features and functionality that benefits all customers, including pet owners, busy families and those looking to get the most out of their voice assistants. This is just the beginning, and we look forward to continuously building upon iRobot OS, providing customers with even more thoughtful ways to clean in the months and years ahead.”
Why have The Terminator robots or AI bots from the Alien series when there are simple, helpful Roomba robots—more like the Star Wars robots, not the assassin ones though. The Roomba j7 and j7+ vacuums are currently available on the company’s website and on the Amazon store.
