The simple answer is no, not all Robot vacuums need WiFi. However, robot vacuums with WiFi may have capabilities that would make them a lot more effective at their task. This is especially the case when considering how far technology has come in the past few years.
Regardless of the robot you are using, you can take solace in the fact you don’t have to lug around a giant garbage bin attached to a hose to clean your house. Instead, you should be able to just turn on your machine and place it on the floor. Within no time, your home will be rid of dust and pet dander.
As vacuum technology has advanced, communication technology has grown right along with it. This has led to a boom in the Internet of Things (IoT), where communications technology is being used to connect items that would typically not be considered digital. This has led to a lot of efficiency and convenience in the way we do our day-to-day living.
This development has also been seen in the vacuum space, with each brand introducing more and more internet-connected robots to their line of products. Here are some of the reasons behind the push towards WiFi-connected vacuum robots.
Pros
There are many upsides to owning a WiFi-connected robot vacuum, including the following.
Convenience
This is the biggest plus for WiFi-connected vacuum robots. At the tip of your hand, using your smartphone and an internet connection, you can program where and how you want your house to be cleaned, regardless of where you are. This has allowed people to be untethered to their physical surroundings, enabling them to be freer to live as they please.
Online Updates
Since the vacuum robot is connected to company servers, they can update their software to improve their service. This is especially important if the vacuum was shipped with buggy software that could impede its performance. When using non-connected robots, the faults would lie with the machine for the entire duration of its lifetime.
Optimization
For the most part, vacuum robots are designed to be as affordable as possible to encourage mass adoption. As a result, the computing components on the machine tend to be underpowered to drive the price down. Using WiFi, the cleaning data can be offset to more powerful computers where it can be compared with data from other robots. With enough data, the robots could be optimized to be more effective at almost no extra cost.
Notifications
As the robot vacuum cleans the house, it accumulates dirt. As soon as it fills, it is no longer effective at cleaning. With WiFi-connected vacuums, you can get an alert to empty your vacuum as soon as it’s full. This functionality can also be used to alert you when the robot is running low on battery.
Damage alert
Robot vacuums, especially on the high end, can be costly. As such, having a vacuum that alerts you of damage early enough to fix it is useful. When not addressed early, a minor malfunction could lead to costly problems down the line, if not a replacement altogether.
Cons
There are downsides to owning a WiFi-connected robot vacuum, such as:
Security concerns
As the world is becoming more connected, cyber crimes have been at an all-time high. Since the vacuum connects to your local WiFi, it could be used by criminals to access your system and steal important information, such as credit card details.
Privacy
A significant segment of consumers does not feel comfortable with the idea of a robot periodically sending location data to a server somewhere. As such, people think adopting a WiFi-connected vacuum would make them lose what little privacy they have left.
Reliability
The usability of your WiFi-connected vacuum is dependent on a strong signal. This is a minus for millions of people across the nation who have to depend on subpar internet with no option to upgrade. Even for those with a strong connection, all the high-tech functionalities are rendered moot when the WiFi goes out or is interrupted.
Price
Due to the added complexity of a WiFi-connected robot vacuum, they tend to fetch a high price tag. This makes them harder to adopt for many people across the world. It is up to the individual to think it through if the pros are worth the price.
Conclusion
Not all vacuum robots need to have WiFi capabilities, although having them does increase your quality of life. This is even more so if you have a reliable internet connection and are not too worried about potential security threats.
As communication technology advances, WiFi-connected vacuum robots seem like they will become the norm in the future. Moreover, they will only get better as more features and capabilities are added. So, hopefully, any concerns we have will be a thing of the past.