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I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

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Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#41

I Bought 2.5-ish Roombas, maybe paid MSRP for one, and bought (and repaired) a couple of refurb units off Woot a decade or so ago. It was an interesting exercise, and if our pet-load was a little lighter (I'd hate to see it get caught in Macaw Poop) I'd consider doing it again. But. They do wear and there was maintenance, and the batteries did lose capacity, and I eventually wandered away from them because there was…

On the battery front - many of them are carrying lithium-ion batteries these days instead of the old nickel-metal hydride batteries that the older Roombas used, so their battery life is much better, until it's not.

Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#42
post #8

A good way to explore the algorithms of the robot is to set it out to run in the night. At the entrance of the room, set a high obstruction. Set up a tripod. Take long exposure photos every minute or so. Then turn on the lights/wait till day time. Take another photo. Overlay the photos in an editor program. Spot the missing areas. EDIT: here are some examples by other people: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robot…

And make sure that any LED on the robot is visible from the direction of the camera regardless of the orientation of the robot ;)

Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#43
post #8

A good way to explore the algorithms of the robot is to set it out to run in the night. At the entrance of the room, set a high obstruction. Set up a tripod. Take long exposure photos every minute or so. Then turn on the lights/wait till day time. Take another photo. Overlay the photos in an editor program. Spot the missing areas. EDIT: here are some examples by other people: https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robot…

I'm assuming you forgot to mention the light on the robot in the dark.

In order to get the progression of the run, you could have an RGB LED sweeping through a color scale during the run.

Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#44
I think it could be perfect if you do something like Bose and measure the building before installing the bots.

As a professional cleaner I have the following suggestion:

Make A cleaning schedule with different frequencies for different tasks. For humans you have to limit complexity, the robot cant get enough of it.

The trick is to do a great job with the least runtime and perfect timing.

1 (Highest frequency): The visible areas when walking from the front door to the seat where your guests will sit. The entire house can be either 1) a complete mess, it will still look clean. Or 2) the entire house can be supper clean it still wont look clean.

Some cameras would be nifty here.

1.1: edges for 1

2: Same as 1 for all frequently used paths in the house except those covered by 1. Could split this up into levels of frequency.

2.1: edges for 2

3rd: All open surfaces not covered by 1 and 2.

3.1: all edges not covered by 1.1 and 2.1

The edges are done roughly every 4th round.

The 1st it can do multiple times per day depending on traffic. (1 times is a good minimum) It could by a dynamic number based on motion sensors. Timing is everything, if the room is empty it can do its thing for 2-3 minutes (quit if someone walks in) Nr 2 is done half to 1/3 as frequent as 1. Nr 3 is done half to 1/3 as frequent as 2.

I've used the above system for years and it continues to amaze me how quick one can execute the routine and how clean everything looks. Nr 1 sometimes takes no more than a gaze around the room.

Without such system one just does "everything" every time which is a lot more work than it seems. (enough work to cut the same corners every time) The result also looks really inferior.

Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#45
post #4

I'm still in the cynic camp for a few reasons. 1. My flat is small. I can do a decent vac in about 15 minutes. 30 minutes if I do under the bed. 2. When I do the "big vac", I have to move 6 dining room chairs. Then shift the table a few inches. Zoom. Shift if back. Same goes for some other legged furniture. 3. I also do the windowsills. No bot can do this. 4. Don't you end up with little arched dust patterns in every…

It is especially noticeable if you have a cat or dog. Even through weekly cleaning with a powerful "normal" vacuum cleaner won't help with everyday hair and dust accumulation. And personally I'm often too lazy even for a once per week cleaning. This thing (I have Roomba 960) collects most of the dirt in the most visible places. It really makes a difference. And corners don't matter in a big picture where every furniture item collects a ton of dust in hard to reach places.

Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#46
post #25

Nobody seems to mention: How do you empty the dust compartment without stirring up the dust? My vacuum (Robzone) collects it in plastic box that is to be opened and cleaned out into trashbin with attached brush, the dust inevitably gets airborne.

You stop caring about 1% of dust escaping after a few cleanings :)

Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#48

I too bought a robotic vacuum out of curiosity (high end iRobot) and found the algorithm to be completely inadequate both in it's mapping and it's ability to adequately cover the area that it was supposed to clean. Additionally it left random patterns in the carpet that could only be described as a drunk toddler vacuuming... in other words, it didn't look clean. It took more than 3 days to map the three rooms that it…

I had a Roomba sometime after 2006 and it was dumb but not in a bad way. It had a drop sensor, bump sensor, and tire sensors. It would primarily move in a switch back overlapping pattern and had a couple different fallback patterns that would kick in if the bump sensor triggered to frequently. It didn't necessarily hit 100% of space in the first try but it could autodock and recharge, and had a couple invisible walls to cordon it off.

It got stuck occasionally and needed to be rescued but once you knew what it got stuck on you could clean up, as you would with normal vacuuming, and it would be mostly fine.

The newer robot vacuums have a lot more tech but don't seem to have improved upon the basic functionality much. They still get stuck a lot, have trouble with deep pile carpet, and don't get everything.

Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#49
> " Dammit, Amazon, it's so hard to quit you."

What? I'm not even in the US, but DDG'ing the "Eufy RoboVac 30" brings me straight to the manufacturer's website, where it's even $40 cheaper. Why give "Lord Bezos" a piece of the cake, when he doesn't even need to have one?

Maybe it wasn't so at the time of writing, but I have a weird feeling it's en vogue to claim to be against Amazon, but to then find some half-assed reason as to why they're still the "only sensible" choice, and so it's all good. WTF? Are these Amazon-financed articles?

Re: I am mesmerized by our new robotic vacuum (2019)

#50
post #14

I bought a robotic vacuum more out of curiosity and to see if I should buy one as a gift for my parents. Just one of the cheapest models that still had good reviews. It turned out that all deficiencies of such a vacuum are offset by its basic function: it keeps the apartment clean each day, every day. Dirty corners? Weak suction? Small container? Somewhat noisy? Not too smart? Gets stuck sometimes? I need to clean ha…

I don't like the cleaning I have to do before I let the robot loose -- pick up toys; I could vacuum much faster than the robot does and without heavy lifting of items in my crowded flat.

But I usually don't vacuum, so overall I'm satisfied with my roborock.

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