With COVID-19 vaccinations increasing and hospitalizations decreasing, some of the global workforce is actually going back to the office, and while that means putting on real pants, (not the sweats with the hole where the pocket used to be or the Rick & Morty PJ bottoms, but pants with creases), and maybe two or three days a week, not having the dog sit within 3 feet of you 24/7.  This also means less time for those “OMG this place is a mess” 2AM cleanings and closet reorganizations, so it might be time to allocate some financial resources toward someone who can take care of some of these mundane chores for you.   At between $50 and $80/hr. cleaning services are expensive, and you are not quite sure you are OK with strangers wondering around your house or apartment and poking through your stuff.
Well Samsung (005930.KS) has the solution, the Jet Bot AI+ that will be coming to a store near you to solve all of your cleaning and related problems.  This device is more than a floor and carpet sweeper, according to Samsung's promotional literature[1], “...the Jet Bot AI+ offers companionship and builds strong relationships, and can understand and genuinely care for its users.”  The Jet Bot AI+ does this in two ways, first, instead of using a digital screen (like others) it vividly expresses functions and situations with subtle lighting.  Before it begins cleaning, the lighting on the Jet Bot AI+ gradually increases, “creating the impression that the device is opening its eyes and looking from side to side,” and with 22 “delicately designed lighting animations” it can inform the user of its status (should the user want to know).
But that’s only scratching the surface (sorry)  of how the Jet Bot AI+ can relate to you, as it also is equipped with Bixby, Samsung’s answer to Amazon’s (AMZN) Alexa and Google’s (GOOG) Assistant, making it able to communicate in a way that, “exudes reliability…and creates a sense of companionship,” and if you are really lacking in companionship, Samsung adds that “the device’s witty responses to certain situations and questions make it seem much more human and alive,” allowing you to feel comfortable adding the Jet Bot AI+ to your Facebook (FB) ‘friends’ list. 
But what about the dog who had gotten so used to multiple walks, the smell of dirty towels in the bathroom, and those same very ‘used’ sweats?  Samsung did not forget your trusty companion and carefully considered how to alleviate the stress you feel about now having to return to the office and leave your pet alone by enabling the Jet Bot AI+ to monitor your pet while you are away.  Not only can the Jet Bot AI+ monitor your pet’s actions by pointing out where the pet is on a map of your space on your smartphone, but “if a pet exhibits abnormal behavior due to its owners absence, the robot will immediately notify the user and offer helpful information relevant to the situation.” The device can also record pets at home so the user will not miss out on “precious moments” that they might miss by being at work.
Of course, the Jet Bot AI+ offers all of the things you might want in a robotic vacuum, such as automatic charging, automatic dustbin emptying, smartphone scheduling, and the always necessary ability to examine your ‘cleaning history’ to save time when planning your next vacuuming schedule, but the bot does have an IR sensor, LIDAR, and, while it is not specified, a camera, along with the necessary HEPA filters and the more typical features available to most robotic floor cleaners (and a $1,299 price tag ).  But there is no way one can value the new relationship you and your Jet Bot AI+ will develop, and the same goes for your pets, who will likely find the device a welcome addition to collection of your old socks items they have secretly hidden around the house.  While we are certainly making fun of the Samsung advertising copy and its push to humanize a vacuum cleaner, the Jet Bot AI+ is another step forward in the use of recognition systems that will someday be trusted with driving us around safely.  Whether or not we need to be friends with such devices is another question.


[1] All quoted statements are from Samsung promotional literature

Consumer Electronics companies can be likened to professional surfers.  They are always looking for the next big wave and since growth in some of the more traditional CE product groups has been slowing, CE companies have been jumping on the ‘connected home’ bandwagon, a subset of iOt.  Connected products are being released daily, and while only 10% of US, UK, and Australian consumers indicated that they were using ‘connected solutions’ in a Gartner survey last year, the hype from the CE industry would indicate that nothing is more important than owning a Zencrate Anti-Anxiety Smart Dog Crate (pvt – kickstarter) that will calm your pup with music, fans, and a camera (so you can see him/her shaking in the box) during thunderstorms.

While we are very definitely fans of things that can make life a bit easier (we started with BSR remote controlled outlets in 1975), much of what is touted today is pure marketing, hopefully leading to margin improvement by producers.  The kitchen seems to be a big focus for such products, so we look at the rational, or lack of, for this location first, and will follow up with other ‘rooms’ in subsequent notes.  Here are the primary categories for connected kitchen items and our comments:

Coffee Maker – “knows when you wake up and starts brewing you favorite brand”[i] – Sounds good and is a bit of an improvement over those ‘old style’ coffee makers that work off a clock setting, but you still have to load it up the night before.  No longer will you have to adhere to your coffee maker’s schedule, but little else has changed, except your coffee maker will pester you via smartphone until you fill it for the next day.

Convection Oven – “Starts heating your toast when you step out of the shower each morning” – Wonderful, but the toast would have to be loaded the night before and would be sitting in the convection oven for your 8 hour sleep time.  Don’t forget that the convection oven will also remind you to load it up the night before.

Crock Pot – “Starts cooking dinner while you are at work so its ready when you get home” – This has possibilities, although most crock pots run for ~9 hours anyway, but being able to start the crockpot via your smartphone might help if you are going to be early or late.  That said, whatever your cooking is going to have to be put in the crock pot by you, either the night before, or before you leave for work, so don’t be too late in starting the cooking or your food will have spoiled before its even been cooked.

Lights – “Automatically turn on when you enter and automatically turn off when you leave”. Finally, and if you have kids you understand immediately, a practical idea, but one that has been around for many years and is easily implemented in a variety of ways.

TV -  “Automatically turns on the traffic report when you enter in the morning” – OK, some possibilities here, although not having to press an ‘on’ button doesn’t seem like much of a time or effort saver.

Stove – “Receive an alert when your stove or oven is left unattended” – A good idea, but one that would have to be adjusted to whatever the timeframe is for the items being cooked.  If you are cooking a roast for an hour, you would need to be notified if the oven is unattended for more than an hour, but if you are reheating a meal, the oven would have to understand that it should contact you much sooner.

Cabinets & Drawers – “Cabinets and drawers would notify you if small children are accessing dangerous or off-limit areas like cleaning supplies” – An excellent idea, although a bit of overkill considering the many ways in which cabinets can be baby-proofed currently, but has promise if it can understand who is allowed to touch what cabinet.

Many of these items, and this is just the kitchen, are interesting but largely impractical, and will likely make only a slight difference to your daily routine. So the real question will be whether consumers will pay extra for such connected devices.  The most practical, auto-lighting can be accomplished by a small sensor in the light switch rather than a ‘connected’ system, unless it is important to you to turn on the lights just before you enter the room with your smartphone…



[i] Quotes are from Twice@Home 3/13/17