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  Matic should be able to suck up that spill. [credit: Matic ]

Remember when a Roomba recorded a lady on the toilet, and images from the video ended up on Facebook? It’s the type of horror story that rarely happens, yet once is enough to make you second-guess the smart home products you bring into your personal spaces forever.

That’s why I was so intrigued by Thursday’s announcement of Matic. It’s an upcoming robot vacuum and mop that has been in development for six years by ex-Google Nest engineers Mehul Nariyawala and Navneet Dalal. It stands out from other consumer options because of the privacy it offers. The device doesn’t require a connection to the Internet or cloud and performs all processing on-device.

Cloud-free cleaning

All of the mapping Matic does occurs on the device’s hardware, which Dalal told TechCrunch has computing power comparable to that of an iPhone 6. Other robot vacuums can work without the cloud, but then their mapping features won’t work.