Prime Day came and went in a blur. It isn't until the post-haze deliveries start showing up that you realize you spent far too much on silly trinkets and toiletries instead of investment purchases. A hot dog toaster or a cute nightlight can't take chores off your plate, but this 3-in-1 robotic vacuum and mop can. And thankfully, there's still time to grab it for 68 percent off. The ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 Omni is your secret weapon for a squeaky clean home--with minimal intervention required from you.

Mobile service robots have become increasingly ubiquitous. However, these robots can pose potential accessibility issues and safety concerns to people with visual impairments (PVI). We sought to explore the challenges faced by PVI around mainstream mobile service robots and identify their needs. Seventeen PVI were interviewed about their experiences with three emerging robots: vacuum robots, delivery robots, and drones. We comprehensively investigated PVI's robot experiences by considering their different roles around robots -- direct users and bystanders. Our study highlighted participants' challenges and concerns about the accessibility, safety, and privacy issues around mobile service robots. We found that the lack of accessible feedback made it difficult for PVI to precisely control, locate, and track the status of the robots. Moreover, encountering mobile robots as bystanders confused and even scared the participants, presenting safety and privacy barriers. We further distilled design considerations for more accessible and safe robots for PVI.

Researchers hacked a robotic vacuum cleaner to record speech and music remotely. A team of researchers demonstrated that popular robotic household vacuum cleaners can be remotely hacked to act as microphones. The researchers -- including Nirupam Roy, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland's Department of Computer Science -- collected information from the laser-based navigation system in a popular vacuum robot and applied signal processing and deep learning techniques to recover speech and identify television programs playing in the same room as the device. The research demonstrates the potential for any device that uses light detection and ranging (Lidar) technology to be manipulated for collecting sound, despite not having a microphone. This work, which is a collaboration with assistant professor Jun Han at the University of Singapore was presented at the Association for Computing Machinery's Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys 2020) on November 18, 2020.

For all the convenience they bring, vacuum robots like iRobot's Roomba i7 can be prohibitively expensive. But if you've been patiently waiting to buy one, now is a good time to act. Both Best Buy and iRobot have discounted the i7 to $700, down from its usual $1,000 price. We've seen the device drop to $800 recently, but at $700, the i7 is an even better deal since it effectively lowers its cost to the starting price of the more affordable i7. In addition to including the company's Imprint Smart Mapping technology, which allows the robot to classify and remember all the rooms in your home, the i7 comes with a charging station that automatically empties its dust container into a disposable bag.

The future of aspiration seems to be heading towards autonomous robots. Despite the fact that there are more and more comfortable, powerful and efficient hand vacuum cleaners, autonomous robots continue to be an attractive choice for most homes. Dyson, a benchmark in home appliances, has been one of the last to enter this segment and has now just presented its new robot vacuum cleaner in Europe: Dyson 360 Heurist. Unlike the previous model, the Dyson 360 Eye, the name of the new vacuum cleaner hints at its ability to learn. Every time you leave your base with the idea of vacuuming the surface, create a map that is being completed and redefined every day.