Matic Cues: Talk and Point Your Way to a Cleaner Home

Matic's robot vacuum has received a significant upgrade with the launch of Matic Cues, bringing advanced voice and gesture control capabilities. This new feature, available starting today, August 13, allows users to interact with their vacuum through spoken commands or by simply pointing at areas needing attention. The gesture control technology, a standout innovation, was developed by the company's founders, who previously worked on computer vision at Google Nest cameras.

Existing Matic robots will receive this update, leveraging their existing camera hardware for on-device processing. While voice control is not entirely new to robot vacuums, Matic utilizes the Gemini API for natural language understanding, enabling more intuitive commands. For instance, users can request specific actions like "vacuum the inside of the carpet" or "clean just the hard floors." The robot can also execute chained commands, such as cleaning multiple rooms sequentially.

Voice commands require an internet connection and cloud processing, though the "Hey Matic" wake word is handled on-device to enhance privacy. Commands sent to the cloud are anonymized, with plans to bring more commands offline in the future. This update, arriving just ahead of a price increase on September 9, makes an already capable robot vacuum even more convenient and user-friendly.