The Day My Smart Vacuum Turned Against Me

Summary

Would you allow a stranger to drive a camera-equipped computer around your living room? You might have already done so without even realizing it.The Beginning: A Curious ExperimentIt all started innocently enough. I had recently bought an iLife A11 smart vacuum—a sleek, affordable, and technologically advanced robot promising effortless cleaning and intelligent navigation. As a curious engineer, I was fascinated by its workings. After leaving it to operate for the entire year, my curiosity got the better of me.I’m a bit paranoid—the good kind of paranoid. So, I decided to monitor its network traffic, as I would with any so-called smart device.Within minutes, I noticed a steady stream of packets being sent to servers located halfway across the world. My robot vacuum was constantly communicating with its manufacturer, transmitting logs and telemetry that I had never consented to share.That’s when I made my first mistake: I decided to stop it.All I did was block its data logging IP address—just the logs, not firmware updates or OTA channels. Simple enough, I thought.At least, I thought so.The Sudden Death of a Smart VacuumFor a few days, everything seemed fine. It continued to clean, map, and obediently avoid the furniture. However, one morning, it failed to power on.I sent it for repair. The service center assured me, “It works perfectly here, sir.” They sent it back, and—miraculously—it worked again for a few days. Then, it died once more.This became a surreal cycle:I shipped the robot off.They “fixed” it.It worked briefly.It died again.I began to feel like I was losing my mind. How could a simple IP block disable a vacuum cleaner that is supposed to work offline as well?Then, one day, the service center refused further service.“Out of warranty, sir.”And just like that, my $300 smart vacuum transformed into a mere paperweight.The Turning Point: Nothing Left to LoseThat’s when curiosity overpowered my frustration.With the warranty void, I picked up a screwdriver and c...