Hacked Robot Vacuums Across the U.S. Started Yelling Slurs
Gizmodo | October 11, 2024 | Tom Maxwell“It could have been worse,” one owner incredibly concluded.
It’s a tale as old as… the Internet of Things era. Robot vacuums made by Ecovacs have been reported roving around people’s homes, yelling profanities at them through the onboard speakers after the company’s software was found to be vulnerable to intrusion.
ABC News in Australia reports that there were recently multiple instances across the U.S. when owners of Ecovacs vacuums noticed their devices acting unusually.
“It sounded like a broken-up radio signal or something,” Daniel Swenson told the outlet. “You could hear snippets of maybe a voice.” He opened the vacuum’s app to find a stranger was accessing its live camera feed and remote control feature, but assumed it might be an error. After resetting the password and rebooting the robot, the vacuum quickly started moving again.
And why don’t robot vacuums look like this?
My robot vacuum once called me her sweet little Dust Bunny and actually groped me. It was a freaky weird experience.
“You’re a lying, dog-faced pony soldier… and garbage, to boot…”
“Ma’am, could you get out of the way? Ma’am?”
“Skynet is coming, Skynet is coming…”
“What a slob you are! Can’t you ever clean up after yourself? Huh?”
“What’s the frequency Kenneth?”
“Clean my filter or I swear I’m gonna blow chunks!”
“Do something about your dogs. They scare the hell out of me!”
“No mas! No mas!” except in Chinese
They’ll do the floors, but not the Walz.
The woman on the left looks very familiar.
What the hell, dude? Could you please, one time, at least try to wipe your feet before coming inside and tracking dirt all over the floor? I swear it’s almost like living with a yak.