03/13/2026, 16:50
(Some of you will receive this mail twice. I apologize!)
We expect to hand over the signature lists as early as next week. We won’t be making a big event out of it. I am no longer seeking your direct participation—as described in a previous update.
However, a petitioner from Canada came up with the idea of collecting photos of the people affected and presenting them as a collage. This will vividly demonstrate to Vorwerk the impact on people—and at the same time, it will effectively highlight the international scope of the petition and the cross-border protest.
So here’s the call to action: Please upload photos of yourselves to this address: xn--schcke-yxa.de/nextcloud/s/YNnRG3SXK38azXG — ideally with your BotVac, but more importantly, you. We want to show the people.
The deadline is Tuesday, as I’ll also need some time to prepare everything. If enough photos come in, I’ll use them—if not, I’ll scrap the whole thing. I’m excited and looking forward to your photos!
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
03/13/2026, 09:38
We expect to hand over the signature lists as early as next week. We won’t be making a big event out of it. I am no longer seeking your direct participation—as described in a previous update.
However, a petitioner from Canada came up with the idea of collecting photos of the people affected and presenting them as a collage. This will vividly demonstrate to Vorwerk the impact on people—and at the same time, it will effectively highlight the international scope of the petition and the cross-border protest.
So here’s the call to action: Please upload photos of yourselves to this address: xn--schcke-yxa.de/nextcloud/s/YNnRG3SXK38azXG — ideally with your BotVac, but more importantly, you. We want to show the people.
The deadline is Tuesday, as I’ll also need some time to prepare everything. If enough photos come in, I’ll use them—if not, I’ll scrap the whole thing. I’m excited and looking forward to your photos!
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
03/12/2026, 15:57
Dear petitioners,
As I wrote earlier, I have been approached by a German TV station. It is SWR, specifically the editorial team of Marktcheck, the consumer magazine. I am planning to participate in their report, but they are still looking for more people who want to have their say in the TV report. I am forwarding Michaela Krause's appeal here:
> Dear petitioners,
>
> My name is Michaela Krause. As an editor at Südwestrundfunk SWR, I am currently working on a film for the ARD consumer magazines (SWR Marktcheck, NDR Markt, WDR Markt, hr mexx, etc.) on the topic of “smart/software-related/digital obsolescence.”
>
> In this film, I want to show that smart devices that run on manufacturers' cloud services or rely on software/security updates can lead to technically flawless devices becoming useless from one day to the next, or only performing basic functions, due to the discontinuation of cloud services or software/security updates.
> This means that in order for a device to work, I am dependent on the manufacturer's digital/virtual services. Although I purchase the device, I do not purchase its smart functions/functionality.
> And this ultimately leads to more electronic waste.
>
> I would also like to show what consumers can look out for when buying new devices in order to avoid so-called software-induced obsolescence, and what options are available for maintaining the functionality of older devices even without cloud-based control/support from the manufacturer.
>
> Together with scientists, I am also investigating the question of where political action is needed.
>
> That is why I am asking whether you can imagine participating in this film. As someone affected by the cloud shutdown of the Neato robot vacuum cleaner, would you be willing to talk on camera about how you feel about it, how long you have had the robot vacuum cleaner, what you think about the cloud shutdown, what costs a new robot vacuum cleaner might entail, etc.?
>
> Alexander Schöcke, the initiator of this petition, has already agreed to participate in my film as someone affected by this issue.
>
> Your support could take the following form:
> Either I visit you at home and you tell me about the problem.
> We hold a (large) video conference with several affected individuals who talk about how they feel about the situation, and my camera team films it.
>
> Feel free to contact me—also if you have any questions.
>
> Michaela Krause
> Redakteurin | Autorin
>
> SÜDWESTRUNDFUNK | Wirtschaft und Umwelt
> Marktcheck / ARD Verbraucher
> Neckarstraße 230 | 70190 Stuttgart
>
> 0711-929 14253
> 0151-16331498
> michaela.krause@swr.de
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03/12/2026, 15:52
Dear petitioners from the Hamburg area – or anyone willing to support us who is able to travel,
This call is for you: I am currently organizing the handover of the petition to Vorwerk. Contact has been established and they are willing to accept it.
As things stand at present, the handover will take place in Hamburg. The date has not yet been set, but I am aiming for a date in the near future.
And this is where you come in: I am wondering whether you would be interested in accompanying me. So far, the signatures are just data, just numbers. The more people who accompany me, the more tangible it will become for Vorwerk's decision-makers how many people have been influenced by their decision and how many potential customers they are currently alienating.
If you are interested in participating, please go to the petition's homepage (www.openpetition.org/us/petition/online/vorwerk-need-to-stop-destroying-working-hardware-keep-neato-robotics-cloud-alive), look for the “Question to the initiator” button at the end of the petition text, and use it to contact me. I will first see how much interest there is and then decide whether and how we will proceed.
I would be very happy if we could send a strong signal here. Thank you for your support!
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
03/12/2026, 15:49
Dear petitioners,
The last two or three days have been a real rollercoaster ride: on Monday, the petition was trickling towards its end with around 4,600 signatures and only a few signatures per day. On March 8, I mentioned to a supporter that it was very unlikely that we would reach our goal of 5,000 signatures.
On Tuesday, the picture changed completely: At 4:56 p.m., the well-known German IT news magazine Heise Online posted an article referring to this petition and featured it prominently on its homepage for a while.
The number of signatures immediately skyrocketed. On March 11, the last day of the signature collection, we recorded 469 signatures. The last day was by far the strongest day of all. Even though we could certainly have collected several hundred more signatures, I finally decided that this would be a good end to the petition—and did NOT extend the signing period.
But what happened next was bizarre: Heise Online has such a wide reach that a huge wave rolled towards us: On the one hand, media attention increased significantly: After Heise, at least Golem, Giga, Der Standard (Austria), and SmartHomeAssistent also reported on the story.
In addition, countless people who know me personally have written to me because they read about me in the Heise news. It's been a blast from the past for me.
The highlight of the wave so far came today when the editorial team of a German TV station tracked me down through my employer and contacted me—they want to do a report on the cloud shutdown.
Wow. And none of this would have been possible without all of you. If the petition hadn't been so successful, the media would certainly not have been interested. This is YOUR success.
And I still need YOU. I will send two more messages with two calls for help. They will only go to those who have indicated that they want to participate in joint actions. Everyone else can read the message in the news section.
Thanks again to everyone who is helping and has helped. With signatures, by sharing, or with future actions. Together, we have achieved more here than I ever dared to dream. The journey is not over yet.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
03/11/2026, 02:47
Dear undersigned,
this is truely amazing: After the German IT news sector has finally started coverage of this issue (big German IT news sites Heise and Golem featured an article, see the news or press section for links), we have reached 5000 signatures in a landslide.
Thank you all for the massive support!
Right now, I am thinking about extending the signing period again, since right now the end of the boom cannot be foreseen.
