Will iRobot clean up by selling mapping data of customer homes captured by the company's popular robotic vacuum cleaners?

That specter was raised when iRobot CEO Colin Angle told Reuters that, "there's an entire ecosystem of things and services that the smart home can deliver once you have a rich map of the home that the user has allowed to be shared."

And Angle suggested that iRobot could sell such maps data within a couple of years to one or more among Apple, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet.

At least one competitor immediately seized on the potential risk to customer privacy. "We have a very different approach to our mapping technology and what it means for our consumers," says Christopher Caen, head of marketing at ECOVACS Robotics North America.

"This a very sensitive thing for consumers, their homes, and we have to realize that we are no longer just selling appliances. We are selling interactive nodes that are loose in your home, and if we don’t approach this carefully, it has the risk to become a very invasive thing."

In an email sent to USA TODAY, iRobot insists that it is "committed to the absolute privacy of our customer-related data, including data collected by our connected products." It said that no such data is shared with third parties without the "informed consent" of customers, and added that iRobot has "not formed any plans to sell the data."

Two years ago, the highest end Roomba models added cameras and sensors that enabled the robovacs to quietly build maps of users' homes while at the same time the robots were dutifully engaged in their vacuuming chores.

iRobot Home: Opt out

iRobot's so-called Clean Maps reports (available for higher end models) let customers through an iRobot app on their smartphones view cleaning coverage areas, including areas of concentrated dirt where the robot focused its efforts.

When you set up the iRobot Home app, you must agree to the company's Terms of Use, including its privacy policy, which states that you "can control or stop the collection of usage data from your registered iRobot device, by disconnecting your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth from the app."

Customers who do opt out of letting iRobot sell data collected through the devices can still take advantage of certain advanced features, such as controlling the robots via voice through Amazon's Alexa or the Google Assistant, by linking their iRobot accounts with their Amazon or Google accounts.

If they don't opt out? It's iRobot's to share -- and it won't be anonymized, which is often the case with such data sharing. The firm says data collected is encrypted and stored securely and can only be accessed by the customer who owns the robot or certain iRobot employees who have a need to know this information.

iRobot is the dominant player in the robovac market with about an 88% share.

Angle told Reuters that he expects most consumers will be willing to share maps data of their homes for access to smart home services.

He might be right: Smart speakers like Amazon Echo have already proven we're willing to bug our own homes for the convenience of hands-free computing.

The CEO envisions smart air conditioning units that alter airflow based on the room, smart stereos that adjust acoustics to fit a space and smart lighting that lowers when the sun peaks through your window — all based on maps provided by Roomba technology.

See Reuters' interview with Angle, and learn how smart home tech could go horribly wrong.

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

More:Your data is priceless; that's why some apps sell it