Intimate Photos By Roomba Vacuums Leaked Online (futurism.com) 52
schwit1 shares a report from Futurism: Your robot vacuums are watching you -- and the resulting imagery of your most private moments can, horrifically, get leaked online. As the MIT Technology Review reports, the aptly-named company iRobot, behind the uber-popular Roomba vacuums, confirmed that gig workers outside of the US broke a non-disclosure agreement when sharing intimate photos, including one of a woman on the toilet, to social media.
The images in question, some of which MIT Tech shared -- though thankfully not the bathroom one -- were snapped by the vacuums for the purpose of data annotation, the process in which humans confirm or deny whether AI has accurately labeled things correctly. While the data annotation process is integral to Roomba-style vacuums and other AI-enabled robotics, most people are unaware of the process, though iRobot claimed in its responses to MIT Tech that the leaked images came from development robots that had a bright green label that said "video recording in process."
The images in question, some of which MIT Tech shared -- though thankfully not the bathroom one -- were snapped by the vacuums for the purpose of data annotation, the process in which humans confirm or deny whether AI has accurately labeled things correctly. While the data annotation process is integral to Roomba-style vacuums and other AI-enabled robotics, most people are unaware of the process, though iRobot claimed in its responses to MIT Tech that the leaked images came from development robots that had a bright green label that said "video recording in process."
They have cameras now? (Score:5, Interesting)
Holy crap, that commercial I've been seeing on YouTube where a command center is watching a Roomba camera in real time and directing it around things is more real than I thought!
I always thought they just had proximity sensors, it does make sense that like cars they would migrate to computer vision to work... but disturbing those images can go off-device, or be accessed externally to the device.
I can see this becoming a whole sub-category of porn though.
Re:They have cameras now? (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, they have cameras now (Score:5, Informative)
The production units did not and do not have cameras
Bullshit. I have the mop (Braava, from iRobot) and it has a camera with a split rear-facing and a forward-60-deg-upward view. It supplements the bumper sensors, helping with self docking and for general room orientation (by looking at how the ceiling meets the walls). They call it "vSLAM technology" - heh. Regardless, it's a camera.
I made a custom privacy cover for it, so that the camera is obscured while it sits on the charging station. It only gets to see when it's actively running.
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The i7 also comes with a camera. It can't vacuum in the dark, it needs some light to find its way around.
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$5 flip phones have cameras. Cost can't be an issue in incorporating one into a vacuum that costs hundreds, unless they need really good cameras.
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I received the dirt dog roomba as a gift but found myself cleaning the bump switches, ir proximity sensors, and guts so often it wasn’t saving me any real time. I’d come back to it suiciding down the stairs or just spinning so often I’ve never gone back an
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Lol. The Dirt Dog. a 15 year old product that doesn't even have a vacuum.
I've had the Roomba 620 for 4 years now. It's extremely dusty where I live and it's been SOLID.
And besides, roombas are the opposite of "planned obsolescence". irobot will sell you spare parts that you can swap yourself with only a #2 philips screwdriver, even for old-ish models. And for OLD models you can get "aftermarket" parts.
You should give roombas a second chance. I saw the 694 the other day for less than $200.
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Re:They have cameras now? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:They have cameras now? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:They have cameras now? (Score:5, Insightful)
In a word: yes.
From the original source [technologyreview.com]: They were given to “paid collectors and employees” who signed written agreements acknowledging that they were sending data streams, including video, back to the company for training purposes.
So the people agreed to be photographed by Roomba, while taking a pee even, on the understanding it would be kept private. Roomba gave it to a contracting company after putting the company (since fired) under a contractual obligation to keep the data private. The employees looking for help on classifying the photos posted them to self-help chat rooms. The forums were public but in dusty corner of the internet few look at. The MIT Technological Review found them, decided that broadcasting photos of people who had a reasonable expectation of privacy around the internet would make for a very click baity article. Turns out they were right, and I guess made they bit of money out of it.
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Re: They have cameras now? (Score:2)
2) if they used a camera to see my 50+ yr old ass naked they get all they deserve lol.
Re:They have cameras now? (Score:5, Interesting)
They use AI to recognise interesting objects and send the image to the owner. If the robot finds that lost toy under the sofa it is supposed to let you know.
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If the robot finds that lost toy under the sofa it is supposed to let you know.
I have to admit, that's actually a kind of cool feature and use of camera. Especially for things that got way under a bed where someone may never look.
Nope, they actually did (Score:5, Informative)
"The images in question, some of which MIT Tech shared -- though thankfully not the bathroom one ..."
No, that photo is in the MIT article. The person's face is blacked out.
Well at least it's not (Score:2)
what we all thought when vacuums and intimate photos are in the same headline.
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Trust me, do NOT google "intimate vacuum".
Anyhow, never buy a household appliance with a camera, and tape it over if forced to due to relatives, deals, etc. Vacuums can use LIDAR. Granted, it's not as good as LIDAR + imaging, but that's the trade-off for privacy.
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Trust me, do NOT google "intimate vacuum".
Okay... but this obviously raises the question of why *you* were Googling that. :-)
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I can't speak to this specific phrase, but I have been surprised on more than one occasion by search results generated on (what I thought was) a totally innocuous set of words.
And then there are the searches that you know are going to be trouble, going in... such as when I was looking for replacement parts for the failing ballcock valve on my 1960s-era toilet...
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I plead the 5th.
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Trust me, do NOT google "intimate vacuum".
Okay... but this obviously raises the question of why *you* were Googling that. :-)
"Research."
For a friend.
I'll hereby stop... (Score:3)
Why does the Roomba.. (Score:2)
..care what is above itself and why does it need to label those things? I thought they just cleaned the floor? Ultra creepy.
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It's basically about navigation. Newer Roombas are able to map their owners' homes so they can quickly move from one place to another. Rather than rely purely on dead reckoning or on objects detected with their bumpers, they have cameras that can look for visual landmarks. Many of those landmarks will be at human eye level rather than floor level, so they have to look up. People's houses change, so the landmarks may change, too. It's helpful to recognize objects so the robot can tell which things are s
Before anyone gets too excite (Score:5, Funny)
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You can borrow my collection of hot & sex vacuum pix. -R2D2
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"I don't care what model it was! No vacuum cleaner should give a human being a double polaroid!"
Gotta say it... (Score:5, Funny)
Well, that sucks.
That's why! (Score:2)
I said this MONTHS ago ... (Score:3)
There was some other discussion on Slashdot that went to the topic of these robot vacuums getting used for data collection purposes. I pointed out that right now, the high-end king of robo-vacs that can intelligently clean and mop floors is the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra (or other variants of it that cost less and forego things like the convenient docking station). And these things have high res camera and Lidar on them, and they upload complete maps of your home to the cloud, which they update/revise as needed with each run.
The Roborock app for your phone even lets you review a map and edit it to add icons of popular furniture items (similar to dropping items onto a grid in Visio Pro), and can optionally display your rooms in a 3D representation.
It's pretty cool technology at first glance... but think about that for a minute. WHY is any of that needed or even worth the code to put in? Your robot vacuum isn't flying around the room, so it doesn't need 3D map data whatsoever! It might be helpful if it can identify things at the floor level that it should avoid, but it doesn't need to know that a dresser is, say, 4 feet high.
I purchased one of these on a "Black Friday" special after it had great reviews for its cleaning capabilities. And honestly, it does a good job. It's absolutely superior to older Roombas I've owned. But nobody warned me about all the data collection it does in those reviews. I have a small house with nothing really remarkable for it to see and report on. It skips cleaning any room that has its door shut, so I'm not going to let it into my bedroom or bathroom while I'm in there.... But this seems really concerning if these get put into use in places where security is a little more important.
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Phones aside, why the fuck do people put internet connected cameras in their house? I'm barely ok with our kids face timing with family or friends inside the house. If you have security cameras inside your house and they are internet connected, well you deserve any loss of privacy at that point, you literally asked for it.
Convenience wins. People sacrifice rights all the time. You could say exactly this about MS telemetry, most laptops have cameras built in. The little convenience of a device sold with software wins over getting a Linux distro image and installing that.
Why do people use gmail/hotmail etc? Your loss of privacy is worth the hosting/staffing costs to gmail/MS.
People actually get intimate with their vacuums? (Score:2)
I thought that was just an urban legend.
And you realise these Roombas have artificial intelligence? They are probably posting revenge porn, after being replaced with a newer model.
Sex Sent Me To The ER [youtube.com]
Re:People actually get intimate with their vacuums (Score:4, Funny)
There's a really cheesy sci-fi flick ready to be made. Candidate titles? I'll start:
1. I know what you vacuumed last summer
2. Room & Roomber
3. Roombinator II
4. Planet of the Vacs
5. Mad Vax: Beyond Roombadome
6. Gone with the Wind II
7. The Sound of Musuck
8. Raiders of the Lost Dust
9. It's a Wonderful Lint
10. One sucked up the cuckoo's nest.
11. The French Disconnection
12. Suck Soup
13. Dust Bunny and Clyde.
I know, my list sucks, I invite you to improve it...
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Roombo [youtu.be] (with deepfakes on top)
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Clear And Present Roomba
The Hunt For Red Roomba
All The President's Roombas
3 Days of The Roomba
Le Roomba...a racing movie starring Steve McRoomba riding a sooped up Roomba
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And before I forget...
The Sum Of All Roombas
The Italian Roomba...a movie about 3 Roombas driven by mad Englishmen that steal 4M worth of Gold from...Mark Wahlberg & Charlize Theron
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You missed the obvious 9 movie series with other possible spin offs and streamed tv shows
The Phantom Roomba
Attack of the Roomba
Revenge of the Roomba
A New Roomba
The Roomba Strikes Back
Return of the Roomba
The Roomba Awakens
The Last Roomba
Rise of the Roomba
We can't forget:
Roomba 1
Attack of the Roomba, the mini series
Dustlo: A Roomba Story
ObiRombnobi
The Rombalorian (with the infamous baby Roomba)
Roomba Fett
Roomba Rebels
Roomba Resistance
The bad batch of Roombas (they blow instead of sucking)
And we can't forget a
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A Roomba with a view
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Kudos and the entire thread needs more mod points.
The technology has its uses. (Score:4, Funny)
Intimate My Ass (Score:2)
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Data sent to the cloud, will rain back (Score:2)
The only winning move is not to play, i.e. don't use internet devices that collect data than you wouldn't want to
Who would have thought... (Score:1)
.... even Snowden would miss that one, tape-over.
Shocking (Score:2)
So China is watching you thru your Roomba? (Score:2)