As global data creation has exploded, robot vacuum sales have grown, a correlation of 0.982 that connects zettabytes to Roombas with the smart-home confidence of a chart that treats server farms and living room floors as equivalent surfaces to be cleaned. The data fills the cloud, the robot cleans the carpet, and both trends measure the same automated decade. Every robot vacuum also generates data (floor maps, usage patterns), making this correlation partially recursive.
Global data grew from about 15 to over 90 zettabytes between 2015 and 2022. Robot vacuum sales grew from about 5 million to over 20 million units. Both are growth curves in the smart-home economy: data grows because connected devices proliferate, and robot vacuums are some of the most popular connected devices. Each robot vacuum generates data (navigation maps, cleaning schedules, firmware updates) that contributes to global data totals, making this correlation partially self-referential.
Eight years of data and robot vacuums is a correlation where the smaller variable literally feeds the larger one: every Roomba generates data, and that data is counted in the global total. The robot cleans, the data accumulates, and the chart records both with the circular precision of a coefficient that is chasing its own tail—much like the robot when it gets stuck under a couch.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Robot vacuums sold” vs “Global data created per year” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
