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The roborock S5 and older models can easily be rooted, and you can install alternative open source firmware [0], newer models still require hardware disassembly in order to flash the firmware, so it's not quite user friendly yet [1]

For newer versions you can however extract the API token from the app, and use it to control the vacuum without internet access and block its external internet access, since the vacuum uses a known protocol. [2]

[0] https://github.com/Hypfer/Valetudo

[1] https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud/issues/213#issuecomment-...

[2] https://github.com/marcelrv/XiaomiRobotVacuumProtocol

I did this with my S5. It's not the easiest operation, but the nice thing about the device is that a factory reset is an actual factory reset, so you can always start over with factory firmware if you mess up.

I use a Wireguard VPN to access the Vacuum's web UI to control it; it has no internet access at all.

It’s on its own WiFi network for this reason.

Roomba isn’t even a close competitor in terms of cleaning performance, especially for the price.

It is probably better for China to have your data then USA, because they probably don't share (unless you live in China)