How I stopped worrying and learned to love the robots?
I love a good excuse to add more technology to our home so when my wife spotted a deal at Costco on a Shark robot vacuum I was excited. At first we picked up one for our main floor, but a few months later they went on sale again and we added another for our upstairs.
Both times we bought the Shark Matrix Plus from Costco which you can find here: https://www.costco.ca/shark-matrix-plus-robot-vacuum
If you don't have a Costco membership there's some other great options on Amazon: (these are not affiliate links)
- https://www.amazon.ca/Shark-Self-Emptying-Precision-Connected-RV2320SCA
- https://www.amazon.ca/Shark-Mapping-Capacity-RV2502AECA
We did have some issues with the original unit we bought disconnecting from our home Wi-Fi. We figured out how to reset it, by turning the robot on and off away from its charging dock. So far it's been more stable, but once in a while it still goes offline and won't run its schedule.
What can I expect from my robot vacuum?
It depends, I greatly prefer using a model that has mapping capabilities like the above mentioned Shark models as they are much more efficient. Some of the cheaper kinds of robot vacuums just bump around until their battery gets low and then they trundle on home to charge. We've used an EcoVacs N79 in the past and while it was more entertaining bumping around, but not nearly as effective.
Expect to babysit it for the first few runs until you get in the habit of keeping cords, socks, and random objects out of its path. We've had our vacuums even push around garbage cans or potted plants to be aware how much torque they have to move small objects.
If you have the extra budget I highly recommend getting a self-emptying model so you don't have to empty the robot itself every time. It's a huge time saver! The Costco Shark Matrix Plus models we bought have both the room mapping as well as self-emptying feature, along with HEPA rated filtration in the base and the robot itself.
All in all we've noticed a huge difference in our floors staying clean and less allergy issues. Adding a couple robotic vacuums has been a huge time saver, plus it helps us keep items from piling up on our floors. Win-win!
Is my robot vacuum listening to me?
Ha you thought I'd miss the chance to talk about networking! In all seriousness for those of us security conscious folks I always recommend some basic steps to keep your network secure:
- Put any Internet of Things (IOT) devices like robotic vacuums on a separate controlled network, VLAN, or your guest network. Many guest networks comes with default settings to limit or block access to the rest of your network, double check this is the case for your home router.
- Do not reuse passwords! When you set up your shiny new robotic vacuum they often come with apps to control them. Practice good password hygiene and make sure to use a unique and complicated password or passphrase. Set up two factor authentication wherever possible. The last thing you want is your robot turning on in the middle of the night because someone hacked into your account.
- Keep your vacuum and its app up to date. IOT devices are a vulnerable attack vector for networks because they often either have infrequent firmware updates and low processing power so security techniques are often poor.
- For advanced users have a look at the traffic generated by your robotic vacuum with a packet inspection tool. If you notice anything odd you can start adding firewall rules to restrict IP addresses and ports. Do this in a step by step manner and check to see if your robot vacuum still functions as expected.
Living with a robot vacuum