iRobot Founder Proposes a Persistent Robotic Companion Embedded in the Home

IRobot's founder colin angle has released a home robot designed to navigate domestic space and catalog inhabitant behavior. It watches. it learns routines. it builds models of preference and movement. previous iterations watched floors. this one watches everything the floor touches and everyone who touches the floor.

stationary cameras exist in homes. doorbell cameras exist. baby monitors exist. none of them were sold as learning devices that live among you. none of them were sold by someone whose previous product was already in forty million homes mapping layouts. the expansion from floor-mapping to behavior-mapping follows a logical line that was always there.

the device will be purchased by early adopters who understand they are being studied. they will accept this. manufacturers will note the acceptance. other manufacturers will release similar products. within five years this will be the baseline expectation for robotic household devices. by then the baseline will have shifted so far that people will forget they agreed to it.