Do we really want Rosie the Robot?

The Vergecast

Vox Media Podcast Network

Tech News, Technology, News

4.3 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 100 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on The Vergecast, the co-founder and former CEO of iRobot, Colin Angle, joins The Verge’s smart home reviewer, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, to discuss what the ideal home robot is. Are we close to creating a Rosie the Robot — an all-in-one humanoid robot that can take care of our homes, or should we take an entirely different approach to home robotics? They dive into the advances in technology powering this shift and ponder what purpose robotics in the home should really serve. Then, Jen takes a journey back into smart home history to help us understand its future. Grant Erickson, Principal of Nuovations, a former Apple, Nest, and Google engineer who was part of the team that developed Thread, joins the show. He shares the story of how and why, back in 2011, the Nest team, led by Tony Faddell and Matt Rogers, decided to create a smart home protocol. It involves a thermostat, fragmented ecosystems, and one of the best smart home products ever made. They discuss how Thread became the foundation of the Matter smart home standard — an unprecedented industry collaboration with a herculean task — to make the smart home simpler. To close out the show, Grant sticks around to help answer a Vergecast hotline question (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com) about how Matter manages your data. Further reading: Maybe I don’t want a Rosey the Robot after all Amazon left Roomba with a huge mess to clean up Figure will start ‘alpha testing’ its humanoid robot in the home in 2025 Amazon Astro review: too much Alexa, not enough arms Samsung is finally releasing Ballie This Pixar-style dancing lamp hints at Apple’s future home robot iRobot’s founder is working on a new kind of home robot iRobot OS is the newest ‘brain’ for your Roomba Amazon bought iRobot to see inside your home I tested a robot vacuum with an arm, and my dog may never forgive me Inside the Nest: iPod creator Tony Fadell wants to reinvent the thermostat Nest CEO Tony Fadell on Google acquisition Fire drill: Can Tony Fadell and Nest build a better smoke detector? How big companies kill ideas — and how to fight back, with Tony Fadell Situation: there are too many competing smart home standards Matter’s plan to save the smart home Nest’s home security system costs $499 and comes with magnetic door sensors Google says Matter is still set to fix the biggest smart home frustrations Thread is Matter’s secret sauce for a better smart home Nanoleaf launches a smart switch after eight years of trying Thread count: Ikea is stitching together a smarter home Why Thread is Matter’s biggest problem right now The four changes in Thread 1.4 that could fix the protocol It could be 2026 before all your Thread border routers work together Matter will be better in 2025 — say the people who make it The Nest Learning Thermostat gets its biggest upgrade in over a decade killedbygoogle.com Google’s ADT partnership finally has a new home security product to show for it Google discontinues Nest Protect smoke alarm and Nest x Yale door lock Google discontinues its Google Nest Secure alarm system Appliance makers are teaming up to reduce your electricity usage — and save you cash Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Vergecast, the flagship podcast of Why Matter Matters, no matter what David
0:08.8	Pierce has to say about it.
0:10.4	I'm your friend, Jen Toey, the Verge's senior smart home reviewer, and today we're talking about
0:16.5	the future.
0:18.1	First, the founder of I-Robot joins me to talk about how close we are to an all-in-one
0:24.0	robot that will take care of all our household needs. But more importantly, whether that's what we
0:30.0	really want. Then we'll turn to the future of the smart home. Grant Erickson, a former Apple Nest and
0:36.9	Google engineer, joins me to talk about how,
0:40.1	and really why, they decided to build yet another smart home protocol thread. This is the
0:46.9	Vergecast. Stay tuned. Introducing the new Dell AIPC, powered by the Intel Corps
0:54.1	Ultra processor.
0:55.5	It helps do your busy work for you, so you can fast forward through designing presentations,
1:00.8	summarizing meeting notes, finding files, synthesizing data, organizing decks, organizing feedback, managing multiple schedules, responding to James's long emails.
1:10.5	Leaving all the time in the world, for the things you actually want to do, no offence, James.
1:15.5	Get a new Dell.aIPC at Dell.co.uk slash AI-PC.
1:21.6	Dell. How those ahead, stay ahead.
1:27.8	Introducing the new Dell AI PC powered by the Intel Corps Ultra processor.
1:32.9	It helps do your busy work for you so you can fast forward through enhancing security,
1:38.3	simplifying IT management, automating workflows, synthesizing data, improving user experience
1:43.5	or responding to James's long emails.
1:47.2	Ooh.
1:49.2	Leaving all the time in the world for the things you actually want to do.
	...

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