Amazon expanding its surveillance capabilities: $1.7 billion iRobot deal includes interior maps of millions of homes

On Friday, iRobot accepted Amazon’s $1.7 billion offer to purchase the robot vacuum company. If the deal goes through, pending shareholder and regulatory approval, the technology giant will receive a plethora of personal data, including the floor plans of millions of users’ homes.

In 2021, iRobot reported that over 40 million Roombas had been sold worldwide since the release of its first model in 2002. The small automated vacuum uses sensors to map out each room in a home. If the Federal Trade Commission approves the deal, this stored personal data will be handed over to Amazon. The company has yet to comment on how it plans to use this data.

The purchase of iRobot is just the latest deal initiated by Amazon. In 2018, it purchased Ring, a video doorbell company. That same year, Amazon acquired the wifi router manufacturer Eero. Amazon recently offered One Medical, a health care clinic chain, an all-cash $3.49 billion deal. The purchase would provide Amazon with the health data from 188 offices around the United States.

Last year, Amazon released its own home mapping robot, Astro. The household robot syncs to Alexa and is advertised as a home monitoring system. Currently, Astro is an invite-only purchase and not available to the general public.- READ MORE