Finding a good Wi-Fi signal to power all of our devices is kind of the contemporary Feng Shui: location matters.
The process is usually a matter of trial and error under normal circumstances, but soon it looks as though we’ll be aided in this hunt by our vacuum cleaners, of all things.
Starting January 23, a select few members of Roomba’s beta program who own the high-end Roomba 900 series units will be able to try out a new feature that finds your home’s strongest Wi-Fi signals while picking up stray confetti still lurking from New Year’s Eve.
Through Roomba’s iRobot app, owners of devices like the Roomba 980 will be able to see a map of their houses showing the intensity of Wi-Fi signals in various spots.
A clean sweep
Most directly, the feature helps you figure out the rooms where your Roomba might have a bit of a problem staying connected, especially when compared with the app’s normal vacuum coverage maps
More generally, it’ll help you decide if the guest bedroom is really as good of a spot for a Amazon Echo as you’d like to think it is.
The feature will likely only be available to a couple hundred opt-in Roomba beta testers in the US at first, reports CNET, but in time Roomba may extend that to around 10% to 20% of Roomba beta testers if all goes well.
