iRobot and IFTTT partner for smarter home integrations at CES 2020

Roomba IFTTT integration
Roomba IFTTT integration (Image credit: Android Central)

What you need to know

  • iRobot and IFTTT have partnered to create simple smart home integrations to better automate your life.
  • These free recipes are available via the IFTTT app or website and can be used to automatically run your vacuum when you leave the home.
  • iRobot is working in deep IFTTT integration into its iRobot Home app, making future routines less complicated.

Have you ever cleaned up your house so that your robot vacuum can run, only to come back home and find that you forgot to actually start the robot? I've done this more than once, but by using the new IFTTT recipes from iRobot, I wouldn't ever have to worry about this again. If This Then That, better known as IFTTT, has partnered up with iRobot to help make your home a little smarter and a little more helpful by automating it in ways you may have never thought possible.

If you've not heard of IFTTT before, here's how it works. Via the website or app on Android or iOS, owners of connected devices (like iRobot Roomba robot vacuums) can design routines around their lives. For example, having your Roomba vacuum the home when you set your thermostat to "away mode", or having your Roomba clean up the cat litter scattered around the box when the Litter-Robot cycles.

Since setting up these recipes from scratch can be more complicated and labor-intensive than some folks would like, iRobot's pre-baked recipes are available right on the IFTTT iRobot service page. Every recipe iRobot has built-in conjunction with IFTTT can be found on this page and makes linking up your smart home as easy as clicking a card and adding it to your account. IFTTT supports the vast, vast majority of smart home appliances and gadgets and can be used to link practically any gadget up to another using simple triggers.

Going forward, iRobot is also working to integrate a lot of this IFTTT functionality directly into the iRobot Home app. That means you'll be able to more easily link all of connected gadgets in your home together without the need for multiple apps. iRobot has, historically, been among the very first to implement smart home tech into their products, delivering one of the first smart connected robot vacuums to the market, as well as integrating it with popular virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Nicholas Sutrich
Senior Content Producer — Smartphones & VR
Nick started with DOS and NES and uses those fond memories of floppy disks and cartridges to fuel his opinions on modern tech. Whether it's VR, smart home gadgets, or something else that beeps and boops, he's been writing about it since 2011. Reach him on Twitter or Instagram @Gwanatu