Amazon’s smart speaker, the Amazon Echo, already allows you to play music, and even order pizza with a simple voice command, and now you’ll be able to clean your house without lifting a finger.
Neato Robotics has announced its Neato Botvac Connected will now work with the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Tap.
Owners of both an Amazon smart speaker and Neato’s robot vac can now launch the Alexa app on their smartphone, tap ‘Smart Home’ from the left hand navigation menu then ‘Get More Smart Home Skills’ and search for ‘Neato’.
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Once installed, users can simply say, “Alexa, ask Neato to start cleaning” (or one of 20 variations of this phrase) to start the robot on its cleaning cycle.
There are several other commands available, too, allowing you to pause the Botvac mid-clean and resume whenever you feel like telling it to.
Unfortunately, that’s where the voice commands end. You won’t be able to schedule future cleans using Alexa, or check when the next clean is scheduled for – though there could be more functionality added in the future.
“Neato’s innovation is a huge leap forward for the smart home. Alexa-enabled Botvac Connected advances Neato’s vision of SmartLife, where using the latest technology to make your life easier is the clear path to smart living,” said Giacomo Marini, Chairman and CEO of Neato Robotics.
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If you live in the US or UK the new Neato Alexa skill is available now, but those in Germany will have to wait until “later this year”.
The Neato Botvac Connected is the first of the company’s products to work with Alexa, but we’re sure the upcoming D3 Connected and D5 Connected will gain similar functionality when they arrive.
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Let us know if you’ll be taking advantage of the Botvac’s new functionality in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
