LG's robotic vacuum is both janitor and security guard

LG has launched its latest Hom-Bot robotic vacuum, the Turbo+, and is trying a few techie gimmicks to make it stand out from the latest models by Roomba and Dyson. The main new feature on the Turbo+ is "Home-Joy," a quasi-augmented reality (AR) function that takes advantage of a smartphone app. All you need to do is point your smartphone's camera at a region of the floor you want to clean and the Turbo+ will go to town on it, eliminating the need for any tedious mapping.

Meanwhile, the device's three cameras and the "Home-View" feature let you monitor a cleaning cycle via a live feed, even when you're not in the house. Most intriguingly, the Turbo+ acts as a movable security camera, transmitting photos to your smartphone if it detects movement. It's not a first for such a feature, but is possibly a premiere for mainstream robotic vacuums. LG will reveal the new device (along with two other regular vacuums) at CES 2016, which is coming up in a couple of weeks -- yep, it's that time of year already.