Man accidentally gains control of 7,000 robot vacuums
Mack DeGeurin
created: Feb. 21, 2026, 2 p.m. | updated: Feb. 23, 2026, 1:20 a.m.
A software engineer’s earnest effort to steer his new DJI robot vacuum with a video game controller inadvertently granted him a sneak peak into thousands of people’s homes.
While building his own remote-control app, Sammy Azdoufal reportedly used an AI coding assistant to help reverse-engineer how the robot communicated with DJI’s remote cloud servers.
The DJI Romo.
Like other robot vacuums, it’s equipped with a range of sensors that help it navigate its surroundings and detect obstacles.
Controlling DJI Romo vacuum with a ps5 controller
1 day, 11 hours ago: Popular Science