Now Siri can control your Roomba robot vacuum cleaner

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Have Siri tell that robot Roomba vacuum where to go.
Have Siri tell that robot Roomba vacuum where to go.
Photo: iRobot

Siri is about to get better at helping you clean the house. iRobot has begun to roll out an iRobot Genius 4.0 Home Intelligence software update to Roomba robot vacuum and Braava jet robot mop customers. The update brings Siri voice support to all users, at long last.

So cleaning the floors isn’t just for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant anymore.

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iRobot Genius 4.0 adds Siri voice support for robot vacuums and mops

Only a few smart vacuum manufacturers offer Siri voice support in their products. Roborock and Neato Botvac are two examples. So the addition of Siri support to iRobot wares is significant.

iRobot Genius 4.0 adds to Siri Shortcut integration, Roomba i3 and i3+ room-specific cleaning preferences, Child & Pet Lock, and Do Not Disturb. And this version expands the list of objects Roomba j Series can recognize and avoid, such as towels and clothing, iRobot said.

“The beauty of iRobot Genius is that our robots get smarter over time and continuously provide customers with new ways to clean where, when and how they want,” said Keith Hartsfield, iRobot’s chief product officer. “From the day a customer welcomes a Roomba robot vacuum or Braava jet robot mop into their home, they know that they’ll always benefit from new features and functionality. They are also getting a robot that works harder for them, so they don’t have to.”

Here are some of the new features:

  • Use Siri to clean: Owners of Roomba robot vacuums and Braava jet robot mops who use an iOS device will have the option to connect their robot to Siri in the iRobot Home App. Then they can set up custom commands. For example, if they want to vacuum their whole home, they can just say something like, “Hey Siri, ask Roomba to clean everywhere.”
  • Tell Roomba i3 and i3+ to clean the rooms you want: Customers can now create customizable Smart Maps for their Roomba i3 and i3+ robot vacuums. That helps them send the robot to clean specific rooms via the iRobot Home app or through their preferred voice assistant, including Siri.
  • Clean each room the way you want: Users who own Imprint Smart Mapping-capable robots will have more control of how their robot cleans with Room-Specific Cleaning Preferences.
  • No more accidental starts: The Child & Pet Lock function on the iRobot Home App temporarily disables the physical Clean button on Wi-Fi connected Roomba and Braava jet robots.
  • Do not disturb: With the Do Not Disturb feature, customers can use the iRobot Home App to define windows of time during which the robot should not run.
Pets have been known to run the vacuum. But that ends now.
Pets have been known to run the vacuum. But that ends now.
Photo: iRobot

Along with the software updates, the Roomba i3 EVO and i3+ EVO robot vacuums see a price cut of $50. That drops the price to $349 for the i3 and $549 for the i3 Plus. The plus in the model name indicates the model includes an auto-empty charging base that sucks the dirt out of the robot’s bin for you.

iRobot Genius 4.0 software updates will roll out globally to Wi-Fi-connected Roomba and Braava jet customers through the end of June 2022. The exceptions are Do Not Disturb and Smart Mapping for Roomba i3 and i3+, which are available now.

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