How do I know this? The app associated with our roomba shows the map it's created of our house. And its incredibly accurate, especially since it encourages us to tag spaces in order to set up intelligent vacuuming schedules (i.e. less in the laundry room, more in the kitchen/dining rooms).
It's even smart enough to identify temporary obstacles (like toys) and permanent obstacles.
It can't determine materials. The lidar can't really do that either. Even if it could, whether you buy Charmin or generic toilet paper on Amazon is a better signal of your wealth anyway. Honestly just buying a Roomba is a pretty good signal that you have some money to burn but not so much that you can hire a maid.
The article is just FUD
Or you're a sucker for gadgets that are sold at high margins and ultimately don't really improve anything in your life.
That said, if you don't care about visible dirt on your floors, perhaps you're right, it won't improve your life.
I don't vacuum every day, but do it often enough with a standard canister vac. It takes a few minutes per room, and then it's done. I can also use the vacuum to get cobwebs out of the wall corners and along the ceiling. I can use it to get dust off of other surfaces. I can use it to vacuum out my car. It's a really nice vacuum, quiet, with a powerful suction, HEPA filter, and it cost less than all but the lowest-tier Roomba.
Yeah, they have cameras in 'em - they advertise being able to detect pet poop, a material.
> Honestly just buying a Roomba is a pretty good signal that you have some money to burn but not so much that you can hire a maid.
Dismissive and also untrue. Roombas save time by spending a relatively small amount of money - about the same amount of money you'd spend on a good vacuum.
If Roomba isn't working on something like this, given the competition is clearly much further ahead, I'd be completely surprised.