Business Corpus: IRobot Teams With Google To Advance Smart Home TechnologyHome-cleaning robot maker iRobot has partnered with Alphabet-owned Google to add location-based awareness to smart home devices. Shares of both IRobot and Alphabet surged on the news. The post IRobot Teams With Google To Advance Smart Home Technology appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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Home-cleaning robot maker iRobot (IRBT) has partnered with Alphabet (GOOGL)-owned Google to add location-based awareness to smart home devices, the two companies announced Wednesday.

IRobot's latest Roomba vacuum cleaners come with technology to map the floor plan of a home. This enables users to command the robot to clean a particular room using a smartphone app or voice commands to a smart speaker.

Google wants to use iRobot's Imprint Smart Mapping technology to create room-based controls for other gadgets. It could control connected lighting, thermostats and stereo systems, for instance.

IRobot's Wi-Fi-enabled Roomba vacuum cleaners already can be controlled with spoken commands to Google Home smart speakers as well as Amazon.com's (AMZN) Echo speakers. Using Google Assistant, for instance, you can direct Roomba to clean a specific room. All it would take is a simple voice command, like "Hey Google, clean the kitchen."

Now Google wants people to be able to say "Turn on the lights in the living room" or similar commands.

IRobot stock jumped 9.2% to 88.17 on the stock market today. Alphabet stock rose 3.9% to 1,090.58.

Adding Smarts To The Smart Home

Location-based awareness is critical to adding smarts to smart home technology, iRobot Chief Executive Colin Angle told Investor's Business Daily.

"The smart home today isn't very smart," he said.

Earlier this month at HUBweek in Boston, iRobot and Google showcased their shared vision for the smart home. They demonstrated how a simple voice command like "Good morning" could set a bunch of smart-home gadgets into action. Those devices included lighting, audio speakers, stowable bedding and coffee makers.

Another scenario involves bedtime. You could say, "OK Google, goodnight" to the artificial intelligence assistant. Then it would automatically turn off the lights, lock the doors, turn on the alarm system and set the thermostat.

"Over the past year, we've been working hard to make it easier to control all the devices and appliances in your home with the Google Assistant with just your voice," Michele Turner, director of Google's Smart Home Ecosystem, said in a news release. "We're excited to be exploring with iRobot how its unique spatial awareness technology can work with the Assistant to offer customers a more intuitive and personalized experience in their homes."

Other Partners For iRobot?

IRobot's arrangement with Google doesn't preclude the robot maker from forming similar partnerships with Amazon, Apple (AAPL) or other smart home players, Angle said.

It won't take long for the Google-iRobot partnership to bear fruit, Angle said.

"You'll see customer benefits that are delivered over the air to consumers as early as next year," he said.

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