iRobot Root
Review date: 11/02/2020
iRobot, the maker of the popular Roomba robot vacuum cleaners, also makes a coding robot for kids! Who knew? Their Root robot kits—they have two—let's kids learn to code by programming the robots to drive, turn, draw, light-up, play music, express itself, and more. These kits are good for multiple coding skill levels—from coding with graphical blocks to actually using full-text code. It's very cool to see iRobot—a company we like because they seem to take protecting their users' privacy seriously—make these learning robots for kids.
What could happen if something goes wrong
A few years back iRobot got into a bit of hot water because it appeared they were mapping users' homes with their Roomba robot vacuum cleaners with potential plans to sell that data. Since then, iRobot has stepped up and made it a point to show they don't sell users' personal data about their lives or homes. This is very good. We appreciate they state in their privacy policy that no data is sold to third-parties and no data will be shared with third-parties without the customer's knowledge or control. This is a childrens' learning robot, not a vacuum. The iRobot privacy policy does have a brief statement that their products are not for children under 13.
Privacy
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: No
Microphone
Device: No
App: No
Tracks Location
Device: No
App: Yes
What is required to sign up?
No
Phone
No
Third party account
No
What data does it collect?
Personal
Name, email, phone number
Biometric
Social
How does it use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record for protecting users’ data?
No known incidents in the last 2 years.
Can this product be used offline?
User friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Security
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. The Roomba communicates with the iRobot cloud service using robust encryption.
Strong password
Security updates
The Roomba is notified of security updates when connected to the internet.
Manages vulnerabilities
iRobot runs a private bug bounty program, which means that anyone who finds a security issue and discloses it responsibly may get paid. They also hold hacking events to collaborate with the broad security research community.
