Ecovacs robot vacuums in multiple US cities were hacked in the space of a few days, with the attacker physically controlling them and yelling obscenities through their onboard speakers.
I want them wifi connected at least so I can set my own schedule or control with Home Assistant. They don't need to connect to any server except my own.
I would think Bluetooth or plugging it in once in a blue moon for a firmware/schedule update like the good old days would be far preferable to anything that could connect them to the internet. I’d much rather air gapped and slightly inconvenient than internet enabled spyware all over my house.
Maybe I'm giving them too much credit, but if you want to bring national news attention to poor security without doing real damage, racial slurs are probably the most sure fire way to do so.