LC-3 · Consumer Risk Bulletins

Kinematic Risk Consumer Bulletin

# Kinematic Risk Consumer Bulletin

**LRRK Watch / Open-Source Intelligence** — Consumer systems that sense, move, and act in homes and yards.

**Issue type.** Monthly filing.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection cutoff | 30 September 2021 |
| Window | 1–30 September 2021 |
| Data label | Open-source intelligence // LRRK analytic product // retrospective monthly filing |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. Retrospective reconstruction from contemporaneous public records. |
| Scope | Consumer kinematic electronics only (home, yard, companion, educational). |
| Spine | CPSC, Health Canada, EU Safety Gate, UK OPSS, manufacturer recall pages, named newsrooms, dockets, SEC. |
| Color | Message boards, consumer forums, and Reddit — annotated context only. Never Fact without a reputable primary. |

## Executive read

### BLUF

September put a camera on the floor that mails obstacle photos to the owner, wrote Sony’s rented-personality terms in plain English, and announced Amazon’s invite-only home-patrol robot the same day developers called it a privacy nightmare that would throw itself down stairs. No official consumer-robot recall opened this month. Clean Base remains live.

### Key judgments

1. **[Assessment — High confidence]** Roomba j7+ (9 September) is the first mass retail SKU this year whose marketing admits the robot photographs the floor and sends the picture to an app.
2. **[Assessment — High confidence]** Sony’s aibo FAQ, last modified 17 September 2021, is the cleanest contemporaneous statement that a companion’s memories, app, OTA, and even a later repair reset are subscription-gated.
3. **[Assessment — High confidence]** Astro (28 September) is an announced, invite-only patrol robot, not a shipped fleet. Amazon’s own page and the Motherboard leak are the same-day record. No CPSC/OPSS/Health Canada/Safety Gate consumer-robot action this month.


### Analytic labels
- **Fact** — verified reporting or primary record
- **Assessment** — analytic judgment
- **Inference** — reasoned but not directly observed
- **Uncertainty** — unresolved information gap

### Source grades
- **A1** — authoritative primary record / directly confirmed
- **B1–B2** — generally reliable and corroborated
- **C3** — useful but requires caution (typical for forums)


---

## 01. Roomba j7+ — PrecisionVision photographs the obstacle and asks the owner

*Event / publication dates: 9 September 2021 (iRobot / PR Newswire); US/Canada sale same day; select retail 19 September*

**Product class.** Robot vacuums / mop combos (camera SKU)

**Verified record — [Fact — A1 / B1]** iRobot introduced Roomba j7+ with PrecisionVision Navigation and Genius 3.0. The robot “will send a photo to the iRobot Home App” when it identifies a hazard or obstacle; the owner instructs avoid or clean-around. Obstacles named: cords, pet waste, socks, shoes. P.O.O.P. promise: iRobot will replace any j7+ that does not avoid solid pet waste (1 year, limited jurisdictions). Clean While I’m Away uses phone location to start/stop when the phone leaves/returns a geofence. US/Canada from $849 with Clean Base, $649 without; Europe now; broader regions 2022. [iRobot 9 Sep 2021](https://media.irobot.com/2021-09-09-iRobot-Introduces-Roomba-R-j7-Robot-Vacuum-with-Genius-TM-3-0-Home-Intelligence-Clean-the-Way-You-Want,-So-You-Can-Human), [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/9/22660467/irobot-roomba-ai-dog-poop-avoidance-j7-specs-price). Development-unit annotation leak (MIT TR, December 2022) is out of window and is not used as a September Fact.

No injury or recall this month.

**Threat landscape.** A floor camera whose job is to image clutter, including pet waste, and put the frame on a phone. “We don’t sell maps” is not in this release and would not answer who sees the obstacle photo. Clean Base is redesigned, not the 2020 recalled i7+ dock SKU.

**Forum / community notes.**
- none found.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — High confidence] This is the year’s camera-on-the-floor retail first. [Inference — Moderate confidence] Obstacle-image review is a training-data path whether or not iRobot says so. [Uncertainty] Whether frames leave the home beyond the owner’s app is not established from the launch copy.

**Opportunity.** A privacy notice that names retention, annotators, and faces — including children’s.

**LRRK relevance.** Sense / Kestrel (training data as a trust path). Passport: who sees the frame. Watch: j7+ installed base.

**Confidence.** High on the 9 September launch and the photo-to-app sentence. Low on backend retention.

---

## 02. Sony writes the aibo brick in a FAQ — last modified 17 September 2021

*Event / publication dates: Sony Support article last modified 17 September 2021*

**Product class.** Robot pets / companion animals (ERS-1000)

**Verified record — [Fact — A1]** Sony USA article “What happens if I don't renew the aibo AI Cloud Plan?” (Article ID 00268729 / last modified 09/17/2021). If the plan is not renewed: growth stops; aibo “will no longer remember people, places, or things, nor will it understand its owner’s commands”; cloud memories, photos, locations, owner memories, and settings “will disappear from the cloud” and “will not be restored”; My aibo app communication dies; software updates stop; seasonal behaviors stop; after contract end, a repair “will be initialized and returned to the condition in which you purchased it” and “aibo’s name and owner memories and other information will be lost.” [Sony](https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00249669). No global ERS-1000 shutdown this month. 2006/2014 Aibo deaths are out of window.

**Threat landscape.** The companion is rented. Non-renewal is a designed personality-kill plus a factory-reset on repair. Physical risk is low. The trust object is support duration written as a FAQ, not a warranty face-plate.

**Forum / community notes.**
- none found.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — High confidence] This is the cleanest 2021 primary that a consumer companion’s mind is a subscription. [Inference — Moderate confidence] Moxie’s $40/month after year one is the same Control Fabric in another body.

**Opportunity.** A regulator who treats undisclosed support duration as an unfair practice (the FTC staff paper is 2024 and is out of window).

**LRRK relevance.** Control Fabric and Campaign. Passport: subscription as the robot.

**Confidence.** High on the FAQ text and the 17 September last-modified stamp. Low on how many US ERS-1000 plans were then in their first three-year bundle.

---

## 03. Amazon announces Astro — invite-only patrol robot, same-day leak

*Event / publication dates: 28 September 2021 (Amazon Devices event); Motherboard leak same day*

**Product class.** Security / home patrol robots; elder-care / assistive-adjacent positioning

**Verified record — [Fact — A1 / B1]** Amazon introduced Astro as its first home robot. Day 1 Editions, invite-only; introductory $999.99 (later $1,449.99) with six-month Ring Protect Pro trial; “we plan to start granting invitations and shipping devices to customers in the U.S. later this year.” Named functions: autonomous patrol, live view, unrecognized-person alerts, periscope camera, Alexa Guard (smoke / CO / glass-break), Ring clip save, visual ID, follow-me, cargo bin. Amazon’s safety/privacy list: dedicated safety processor, stair/obstacle detection, on-device visual ID, out-of-bounds zones, mics/cameras-off button (device cannot move or capture when pressed; dedicated red light), green periscope LED when video streams to the cloud. [Amazon](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/meet-astro-a-home-robot-unlike-any-other), [NYT](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/technology/amazon-astro-robot.html), [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/28/22697244/amazon-astro-home-robot-hands-on-features-price).

Same day, Motherboard published leaked internal documents (codename Vesta) and two project sources: person-recognition “heavily flawed”; one source called it “a disaster that’s not ready for release,” another “a privacy nightmare”; stair handling described as the robot would “throw itself down” stairs “if presented the opportunity.” Amazon (Kristy Schmidt) to The Verge / Independent: characterizations of performance, mast, and safety systems “simply inaccurate”; “tens of thousands of hours” of beta testing including stair/object/stop tests. [Motherboard / Vice](https://www.vice.com/en/article/leaked-documents-amazon-astro-surveillance-robot-tracking/), [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/28/22699284/amazon-astro-real-world-stairs-fragile-developer-claims-documents-tracking). Leak claims are B2 (named outlet + company denial). They are not treated as proven stair-fall or proven misidentification incidents.

Astro is **announced**, not a confirmed shipped consumer fleet this month.

**Threat landscape.** A wheeled camera that Amazon sells as home monitoring and remote elder-care, whose own marketing admits unrecognized-person investigation. Physical claim in dispute: stairs. Trust claim in dispute: how well visual ID works and what “Sentry” stores. No official injury or recall.

**Forum / community notes.**
- none found. (Owner forums do not exist yet; the robot is invite-only.)

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — High confidence] Astro is the year’s home-patrol announcement. [Inference — Moderate confidence] Ring + visual ID + unrecognized-person follow is a covert-camera architecture whether or not anyone “sells the footage.” [Uncertainty] Whether any unit has shipped to a non-employee customer as of 30 September is not established.

**Opportunity.** First confirmed consumer shipment, first stair incident, or a privacy complaint that cites the off-button and the green LED as the actual controls.

**LRRK relevance.** Sense / Move / Act and Control Fabric. Passport: invite list and visual-ID enrollment. Watch: Day 1 Editions ship.

**Confidence.** High on the 28 September announcement and on Amazon’s own safety-page sentences. Moderate on the leak (denied). Low on installed base.

---

## 04. Clean Base still live

*Event / publication dates: Health Canada RA-74597, 21 December 2020; still posted*

**Product class.** Robot vacuums / mop combos (dock electrical)

**Verified record — [Fact — A1]** Unchanged. [Health Canada](https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/irobot-clean-base-roombar-i7-robot-vacuum-recalled-due-electrical-hazard). The j7+ Clean Base is a new design in the 9 September release and is not this recall. No CPSC page on the 2020 file.

**Threat landscape.** Unchanged for the i7+ dock population.

**Forum / community notes.**
- none found.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — High confidence] Still the only official North American consumer-robot electrical action at cutoff.

**Opportunity.** CPSC twin or dated incident update.

**LRRK relevance.** Lab / Watch.

**Confidence.** High on the page.

---

## Forward indicators

1. Astro first confirmed consumer shipment and any stair or misidentification incident.
2. j7+ privacy notice: retention, annotators, faces.
3. First 2021 official consumer-robot recall (Husqvarna AWD is not yet public).
4. OPSS dancing-bee robot report (enforcement notice 20 September; public Product Safety Report 15 October).
5. Clean Base still-live status.

> **Collection integrity.** Honest signal count this month: **4**. OPSS issued a 20 September recall notice on the eBay “Dancing Bee Robot” (item 164480514115) under GPSR; the **public** Product Safety Report is dated 15 October 2021 and is held for October. No September CPSC/Health Canada/Safety Gate consumer-robot recall found. Killed: ANSI 2019 as a 2021 item; Tesla Bot as consumer; Pertisau 2018. Forum empty — no owner Astro threads exist yet; Reddit `site:` on Husqvarna fire returned none.


*LRRK — security assurance for systems that sense, move, and act.*

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