New IRobot Roomba coming up

[Snelvuur]

review:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/robots/modfr ... 291906.php

Official site:
http://www.irobot.com

Our newest generation of vacuum cleaning robots feature the latest innovations for dramatically improved performance, reliability and durability. The iRobot Roomba 570 Vacuum Cleaning Robot offers the newest technologies. Control and steer Roomba remotely from the Wireless Command Center. Schedule up to seven different cleaning times for Roomba to clean when it's most convenient for you. Roomba systematically cleans four rooms on a single charge, gets into hard-to-reach areas like wall edges and beneath furniture while avoiding stairs and other drop-offs. Roomba automatically adjusts from carpets to hard floors and back again. Each Virtual Wall® Lighthouse™ (2 included) confines Roomba to one room until the entire floor is vacuumed before Roomba moves on to the next room. When its battery is running low, or when the cleaning is complete, Roomba automatically returns to the self-charging Home Base™ to dock and recharge.

Standard Features

* A smart, efficient vacuum that picks up dirt, dust, pet hair and more from carpets and hard floors
* Cleans the whole floor, under and around furniture and along wall edges
* Automatically adjusts from carpets to hard floors and back again
* Detects dirtier areas and spends more time cleaning them
* Spot Clean provides quick clean-up of spills and concentrated messes
* Automatically senses and avoids stairs and other drop-offs
* Simple to use! Just press the Clean button and Roomba does the rest!


Advanced Features

* Automatically returns to its self-charging Home Base to dock and recharge between cleanings
* Wireless Command Center allows you to steer and control Roomba from across the room.
* New Virtual Wall® Lighthouses (2) confine Roomba to one room until the entire floor is vacuumed before Roomba moves on to the next room.
* Schedule up to seven cleaning times per week for Roomba to clean when it's most convenient for you
* Faster counter-rotating brushes with improved design pick up more hair, debris and dust and are easy to remove and clean.
* Improved filter captures more dust and allergens while a larger bin holds more debris
* Improved anti-tangle technology keeps Roomba from getting stuck on cords, carpet fringe and tassels
* Improved side brush makes Roomba even more efficient at cleaning edges and corners

// Erik (binkey.nl)

[Bwired]

Thanks Erik,
I was just examining all the cleaning robots. I will be ordering one soon and hook it up to my Home automation (domotica) system. They come now with remote control which is probably on 433 Mhz. I can think of a lot off scenario's, if alarm is set on cleaning can start
Pieter

[Snelvuur]

Roomba is my favorite, i allready have a roomba in my house but although it will never fall down the stairs... my gf picked it up and went down stairs, and she fell. So she broke it it works still, but not as good as it was anymore. You can always use IR to do stuff with it, but it should be RF.

You say you have one with 433mhz? Is that the roomba?

// Erik (binkey.nl)

[Bwired]

Hi Erik,
No I said probably, but now I think it will be IR instead because you have one IR makes it less flexible!
What are these models then http://www.irobotstore.nl , I can't match them with www.Irobot.com ?
Which one do you have?

[Snelvuur]

The irobotstore imports them, but they hardly have all the cool models. All the models they have are allready outdated or older. I bought mine 2 years ago when the site was still fresh. I have IR on this one, with a remote but i was talking about RF since the new roomba models feature RF communications too.

// Erik (binkey.nl)

[Bwired]

Thanks for the tips Erik,
I hope the new models will indeed have RF, I gonna find out what they exactly use.
Will report this on this forum. I don't think it will be on 2.4 Ghz or they have wireless LAN. I don't mind that would be great to control it with a web browser. I Get back on it.

[Snelvuur]

I've seen in the report above that it "pairs" with the remote control. Dont know if that can still be RF

// Erik (binkey.nl)

[Bwired]

I think its Infrared, the older models have infrared (seel third link below). Information on the site is not much.
There are a lot of options to control it however. There is a Bleutooth module called Rootooth.
Look at the below links and videos.

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/20 ... nterf.html
http://todbot.com/blog/2006/09/12/roomb ... cell-phone
http://wi-fi-location-directory.com/wha ... acuum.html
http://spazout.com/roomba/

see all the control possibilities on http://www.roombadevtools.com/

[Snelvuur]

The new roomba has had its debute today, so all those other pages (like rootooth) is designed for the older modules. Not much development for the new roomba's since nobody has them, give it a month

// Erik (binkey.nl)

[Bwired]

Look at this manual describing the Bluetooth interface and also the protocol of the Roomba I think its rather easy to make an RF interface. i will ask the opinion of Bert on this.
http://www.roombadevtools.com/productca ... rguide.pdf

[Bwired]

OK but I guess the new model will still have the same interface only the command set will be different I think.

Pieter Knuvers
www.bwired.nl Online House in the netherlands. Domotica, Home Automation.

[Snelvuur]

http://www.vacuumcleanerlive.com/ is what you want

// Erik (binkey.nl)

[MindBender]

I considered buyin one, but eventually I decided not to. My friend has one and I noticed the rotary brush is very hard to clean. Especially removing dust bunnies and wound-around hair is a pain in the b*tt. Furthermore, the capacity of it's internal dust storage is about the size of two packs of cigarettes; You have to empty it every day. And the sucktion power... well, my manual operated Miele vacuum cleaner has 1400 Watt. That's probably exaggerated, but I doubt if the Roomba would do more than 70 Watt. Yes, the cleaning is intenser and the frequency is higher. That helps to compensate for it's short comings, but it doesn't do miracles. Still it's a charming product. Especially the company's attitude towards hackers, curious users and people trying to use it for alternative purposes. That's welcome in a scenery where manufacturers love to use Open Source software, but go through great efforts to prevent people from hacking it or even running their own software on it.

I would still consider buying an automatic vacuumcleaner. Not because I think it's a very good way to keep my house clean, but because it's a nice gadget. Don't forget: Dyson abandoned their automatic vacuumcleaner project because many problems couldn't be solved with current technology. I would consider the Karcher because it has more power and because it unloads itself into a big bin at it's docking station.

[Snelvuur]

Just as a side note, i do have a regular dyson (the original without loosing suction etc etc) and if you let the device clean your floor every day you have enough storage, assuming your not a complete dirtbag the new model showed above is said to have a greater improvement for cleaner, and much more like that and they increased the storage too (3 cigarrete packs?) and it sucks/cleans better too. O well time will tell, if i can use it remotely i'll just geet one. Its too funny not to have one (give it a revamp by dressing it up) http://www.myroombud.com/ but in the end i have to agree, it cant replace your girlfriend.

// Erik (binkey.nl)

[MindBender]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by snelvuur</i>
<br />but in the end i have to agree, it cant replace your girlfriend.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Sucktion-wise, you mean? Don't involve me in that by using the word 'agree', dude; I didn't bring it up in the first place .