Apple Watch Controls Your Vacuum Robot

Neato Robotics, maker of the first laser-based systematic cleaning vacuum robot continues to surprise the market with new innovations. After being faster than iRobot (maker of the famous Roomba) at releasing a wifi-enabled vacuum robot, they are now the first to make a robotic vacuum controlled from a smartwatche. On march 1st 2016, they announced that their BotVac Connected vacuum cleaner can now be controlled from both Apple Watch and Android Wear smartwatches. The smartwatch app provides access to the vacuum’s features right from your wrist. Now users can start, stop, and receive notifications about the cleaning session with just a glance or tap on the wrist.

Using smartwatches with robots it’s not a new idea. The video below from April 2015, shows an app developed by Intuitive Robots, to control the little humanoid robot Nao, using a Motorola 360 Smartwatch. The app supports telepresence by streaming video captured by the robot’s camera to the watch. The user can react by issuing commands through the watch to NAO to trigger text to speech, play sounds, or make the robot perform some motions. It seems that the app works with Pepper too, since it shares the same software with its “oldest brother” Nao.