en.Wedoany.com Reported - Matic Robots Inc. began rolling out a firmware update on Thursday, bringing a new feature called Matic Cues to its $1,245 robot vacuum. Users can now control the device with natural voice commands in more than 70 languages, or point at a spot of dirt and say "clean this."
The robot responds to the wake word "Hey Matic," turns to face the speaker, and executes commands such as "clean the kitchen," "come here," and "follow me." Users can also chain commands together, asking the robot to vacuum one room and then mop another in the same sentence.
The Mountain View, California-based company was founded by former Google Nest engineers Mehul Nariyawala and Navneet Dalal. Nariyawala told Bloomberg that the team wrote down "never be acquired" on paper at the outset, and spent about nine years bringing the product they envisioned to market.
Unlike competitors that rely on external smart home platforms such as Alexa or Google Home, Matic's voice control is built directly into the robot itself. Gesture detection uses five onboard cameras to recognize where the user is pointing, a capability the company says is impossible for pure LiDAR systems that "can't see anything." Voice commands are sent to Google's Gemini API for parsing, so the feature requires a cloud connection.
Matic has long been known for its privacy protections, with visual data processed locally on the device rather than uploaded to the cloud. The wake word and gesture detection in the Cues feature continue this approach, with both performed entirely on the robot. Voice commands are sent anonymously to the Gemini model without user information attached; the microphone is off by default and must be actively enabled by the user. The company says it plans to develop smaller on-device models for the most common commands in the future, potentially eliminating the cloud dependency.
The update comes amid changes in the U.S. robot vacuum industry. Bloomberg reported that iRobot Corp., the maker of Roomba, filed for bankruptcy late last year; Chinese manufacturers such as Roborock and Dreame have captured market share with lower-priced models. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently added foreign-made "advanced robot devices" to its "Covered List," which could restrict new Chinese-made models from entering the U.S. market.
Matic designs and assembles its robots in California and has sold more than 13,000 units to date. The company announced $60 million in new funding in January, bringing its total funding to $115 million. Due to rising component costs, Matic plans to raise its price to $1,495 in early September.
