Building a better Roomba

LoopyByteloose

I just came across a web page that shows more companies are producing robotic floor cleaners.

http://www.robotshop.ca/robot-vacuums.html

I am even quite surprised to see Asus (of Asus EEEpc fame) has entered this market.

But the truth is that I really need something that is heavier and that can handle dog hair. I suspect that there are a lot of people that would love to have a robot that takes care of cat and/or dog hair in the home as it is a never ending process. And so it seems like a "Better mousetrap" kind of project that could do well.

Of course, the race is won by the swiftest and I tend to be more of a dreamer than a doer. So I am just putting the concept out for any takers.

Humanoido

If a robot vacuum cleaner can't pick up some dog hair, it sounds rather worthless to me. There's more than dust that need to be cleaned off floors. I see lots of off brand robot floor cleaners with high prices tags around US$300. I never imagined they couldn't pick up a dog or cat hair. Maybe the problem is clogging in the brushes. I plan to examine a cross section of these robots for possible purchase but only if they can pick up dust and hair. These are on demo at most of the major stores so carrying a pocket of test hair will be easy. The problem I see with these floor robotic cleaners is the round configuration that cannot clean in corners. There's lot of 90-degree corners in my room caused by furniture. BTW, the Neato claims to clean pet hair. Neato Robotics XV-11 Vacuum Cleaner

localroger

I'd like to see something more like a Dyson canister vac built into a self propelled vacbot. The navigation software would obviously have to be a lot more sophisticated than what these little bots are doing because they can get away with murder what with being little bots of small simple shape. But also of small trash capacity.

LoopyByteloose

The Neato is at the top end of costs and claims to do cat hair. But judging from the amount of hair tha fills up the filter bag in my regular vacumn cleaner, I suspect that the Neato would be topped out each and every day if you had a Golden Retriver.

Yes, the brushes are likely to need a mechanical self cleaning feature. And maybe, the charger station would also have to off load waste. And the ladies say, "It is the size that counts." I fear that these bots are too tiny for someone living with a big hairy dog. Dyson style debri trapping would be helpful. But the manufacturers know the real profit is in selling bags and filters - like ink and toner for printers.

wjsteele

Actually, iRobot has a Roomba specifically designed for pet hair. They also have one that I use all the time in my shop called a "Dirt Dog" which is a little tougher than the normal unit. (It can handle items like nails, etc.)

Neato's robot has a cool inexpensive Lidar on top of it that is currently being hacked. Combine that with Microsoft's Kinect and you'd have a very cool setup for any vacuum!

By the way... I love my iRobot Create platform... I'm adding a Kinect as we speak. :-)

Bill

LoopyByteloose

Gosh, iRobot Roomba's have 3 different 'pet hair' bots. So there certainly must be some demand for this particular task.

I couldn't locate the "Dirt Dog" at their site. But it does seem we are well on our way to having robotic floor cleaners wandering everywhere.

Humanoido

So how do the round vacuum cleaners take care of corners? It would be inefficient to invest $300 and discover all the floor corners are dirt filled.

Dr_Acula

I agree with localroger. The design needs to start with a real vacuum cleaner.

So here is a design challenge - a robot smart enough to find power points, plug into them, and remember where they are for future use. This is probably crazy dreaming, but I've just spent half an hour browsing the Kinect videos on youtube, and maybe this isn't so crazy after all?

prof_braino

The dyson is the coolest vacuum, and the dyson pet picks up dog and cat hair very well (Mrs Braino swears by it). But she won't let me hack it, I was going to have the roomba act as "guide-dog".
But since the neato seems to have LIDAR, that has caputred my attention as of this moment.

wjsteele

Roombas have a small spinning brush that can reach into corners and actually works amazingly well. I've been using them for several years (since the very first non programable model) and have found them to be great little devices. The only thing they need is a way to automatically dump the dirt bins. Mine can easily clean my whole house in two charges and I have them set up to automatically do that. I also love the fact that all but my very first one are easily hackable.

Bill