Robot stofzuiger

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The story as narrated

At home, we use a robot vacuum that cleans the living room two or three times a week, at times when nobody is home. Using an app, you set when and where it cleans. Its biggest value is saving time. You no longer have to vacuum yourself, and you always come home to a clean house. That leaves more time for studying, working out or social activities. The robot works with several sensors. Using a LiDAR sensor or camera, it scans the room, builds a map of the house and finds its own way back to its charging station. Other sensors stop it from bumping into furniture or falling down the stairs. A built-in algorithm calculates the most efficient route, and the latest models use machine learning to recognise and avoid obstacles such as cables and chair legs. Through Wi-Fi and the app, it is also part of the Internet of Things. The advantages are clear: it keeps the house consistently clean and is easy to use. But there are downsides too. It can't reach corners and edges, can't be used on stairs, and without machine learning it can get stuck on cables and rugs. Privacy also plays a role. The robot makes a map of your home, and that data can be sent to the manufacturer's servers, for whatever purposes are stated in the terms and conditions. Even so, I mainly see the robot vacuum as an improvement. It is a form of AIoT: AI combined with the Internet of Things. It performs one task accurately, but makes no decisions that really affect my life. In my view, the threat isn't the robot itself, but what happens to the data from all those robots combined. That's why you should consciously choose a manufacturer that claims to be transparent about data storage. This week I learned that AI isn't only found in chatbots or self-driving cars, but also in ordinary devices at home. I wasn't aware of how much data a device like this collects. That's why, from now on, I want to look more critically at the terms and conditions of the devices I'm going to use.

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