LC-3 · Consumer Risk Bulletins

Kinematic Risk Consumer Bulletin

# Kinematic Risk Consumer Bulletin

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

**Issue type.** Monthly (LC-3). Window = calendar month. Not the weekday 24–48h poll.

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Collection cutoff | 30 November 2020 |
| Window | 1–30 November 2020 |
| Series | KRCB-M-2020-11 |
| Status | short |
| Data label | Open-source intelligence // LRRK analytic product |
| Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. |
| Scope | Consumer kinematic electronics only (home, yard, companion, educational). |
| Spine | CPSC, Health Canada, EU Safety Gate, UK OPSS, manufacturer pages, named newsrooms, dockets. |
| Color | Forums annotated only. Never Fact without a reputable primary. |

## Executive read

### BLUF

November’s new file is an owner warning, not a numbered CPSC recall. iRobot told select Roomba i7+ owners that certain Clean Base docks can malfunction and short if the robot picks up liquid. The company says the dock is the object, not the robot. About 222,000 units are potentially in scope; no matching CPSC page was found.

### Key judgments

1. **[Assessment — High confidence]** The 3 November 2020 owner emails / app notices, as quoted by TechCrunch and by Ledia Dilo (iRobot Global Customer Care), are a dated electrical warning on the i7+ Clean Base only.
2. **[Assessment — High confidence]** The robot itself is excluded in the company language. No numbered CPSC page for this dock was located in this window.
3. **[Inference — Moderate confidence]** A voluntary fused-cord / replacement-dock program without a CPSC number is still a liquid-to-PCB path on an unsupervised charger.

### 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

---

## 01. iRobot Clean Base owner warning — dock electrical, not the robot

*Event / publication dates: owner emails / app notices reported 3 November 2020 (TechCrunch; SlashGear; iPhone in Canada)*

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

**Verified record — [Fact — B1]** On 3 November 2020 iRobot contacted select Roomba i7+ owners about the Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal. Company statement to TechCrunch: “We learned that certain Roomba i7+ Clean Base docking stations could malfunction and potentially present a hazard if liquids are collected by the Roomba i7+ robot vacuum and deposited into the Clean Base unit. Our vacuums are only designed for cleaning up dirt and debris from dry floors and carpets and should never be used to pick up any liquids.” Concern described as “very rare cases.” About **222,000** units potentially impacted; about **210,000** of those sold in North America. Remedy stated: replacement power cord or docking station for affected serials; emails and app notifications sent. [TechCrunch, 3 November 2020](https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/03/irobot-issues-warning-for-select-roomba-i7-docking-stations-over-potential-short-circuiting/).

Ledia Dilo, Senior Director, iRobot Global Customer Care, in an owner email obtained by iPhone in Canada: “Please note this issue is specific to certain Clean Base docking stations; it does not involve the Roomba i7+ robot vacuum itself. In addition, this issue only affects certain Clean Base units for the Roomba® i7+ robot vacuum and not any other Roomba models.” Eligible owners who submit a serial and address are told a replacement power cord ships in 7–10 business days. [iPhone in Canada, 3 November 2020](https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/2020/11/03/irobot-hazard-warning-roomba-i7-clean-base-needs-replacement-power-cord-asap/); [SlashGear, 3 November 2020](https://www.slashgear.com/irobot-warns-one-roomba-auto-emptying-dock-could-present-a-hazard-03645611/). SlashGear: no guidance in the email on whether it is safe to keep using the dock.

This is **not** a numbered CPSC recall in this window. No matching CPSC.gov page was located. s9+ and i3+ Clean Bases are **not** in the quoted owner language. Health Canada’s December recall is **outside this cutoff**.

**Injuries/deaths:** none stated in the opened pieces.

**Threat landscape.** Liquid path from a dry-floor robot into a powered auto-empty dock. The kinematic object that remains in use is the robot; the warned object is the dock PCB.

**Forum / community notes.**
- none independently confirmed.

**Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — High confidence] The 3 November warning and the “dock not robot / i7+ only” sentences are on the record. [Inference — Moderate confidence] A Health Canada or CPSC page would convert this from a customer-care email into an official recall. [Uncertainty] How many of the 222,000 serials are actually eligible; whether any incident count exists (none published this month). “Very rare” is the company’s phrase, not a numerator.

**Opportunity.** A numbered regulator page with unit, incident, and remedy lines.

**LRRK relevance.** Lab (dock PCB). Control Fabric (liquid interlock; app notice as the safety channel). Watch: whether a CPSC or Health Canada twin appears.

**Confidence.** High on the dated warning and the quoted company sentences. Moderate on the 222,000 / 210,000 figures (company to TechCrunch). Low on unpublished incident counts.

---

## Forward indicators

1. Any Health Canada or CPSC Clean Base page.
2. Any dated incident or injury line.
3. Whether i3+ / s9+ docks are later pulled into scope (they are out of the November emails).
4. Dexter 20-115 / RA-73227 — still posted; no November update found.
5. Moxie first customer ship.

> **Collection integrity.** One signal. Five-signal form is not padded. No CPSC, Health Canada, OPSS, or Safety Gate consumer-robot recall dated November 2020 was pinned. The iRobot owner-email HTML was not opened; holdings rest on TechCrunch’s company statement and the Dilo email as printed by iPhone in Canada / SlashGear. **Seen and held:** Dexter 20-115 / RA-73227 still posted, no November update. Killed: this is a Roomba robot recall; s9+ is in scope; CPSC 20-115 is this event. Forum/Reddit color: none found.

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

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