Neato And iRobot Answer Your Questions

Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 4 of June , 2010 at 5:03 am

When we posted our reviews of the Neato XV-11 and iRobot Roomba 560 robot vacuums, you had some questions. Well, Neato and iRobot have some answers. We also gave Neato the chance to respond to our iRobot interview… We’ve got it all for you, after the jump.

First, some comments from Neato Robotics, specifically addressing some of what iRobot talked about in the interview we did with them.

The Neato XV-11 constantly maps the room every time it runs. So, if furniture moves an inch or two, the robot knows that each time it cleans as it creates a fresh, new map of the room. If someone walks in the room or something is placed in the room mid-cycle, the XV-11 is so smart it figures that out and cleans carefully around it. The XV-11 is very adaptable and always knows what is in the space around it. And, yes, it tries its best to not bump into anything so as to protect your furniture and walls. It’s adaptability allows it to know that, if you leave the door open in a room, it should clean the room it is in first, and then pass through the doorway and clean the other room. If you leave the door closed, it will know you just want to clean the first room. The Neato XV-11 adapts each time it goes out to clean by constantly mapping the room and cleaning it in a smart path.

Straight line paths result in more space cleaned with higher suction power. Because the Neato XV-11 can see everything in its space that it is to clean, it can go about cleaning in a very smart way. It constantly maps the room and pieces together all of its maps to know what it has cleaned and not cleaned until the whole room is cleaned. It tries to align itself to walls and then cleans the room in a straight line pattern. It also cleans while running at an optimal cleaning speed. People move a vacuum back and forth because they want to make sure they vacuum everywhere and pick up everything. The Neato XV-11 cleans in a straight line path and makes a 180 degree turn to return cleaning with an overlap of the first path. And, true, if there is lots of furniture in a room, you may not see a lot of straight lines because the robot needs to go around every table leg or chair leg, but you can be assured that it is reaching all areas of the room.

Here are their answers to your questions:

-How loud is the robot?

65dB on carpet, 68dB on hard floor

-What is the maximum obstacle height that the robot can get over?

¾”

-What is the maximum drop that the robot will attempt before its edge sensors are activated?

The Neato XV-11 can climb over a 20mm threshold which is about ¾ of an inch. The drop sensors are tuned to this ¾ inch drop the thinking being that you don’t want the robot to go off of a ledge that it can’t get itself back out of. In reality, the trigger distance changes dynamically because the robot bounces up and down depending what is on the floor it is cleaning… and you need to make sure the robot doesn’t false trigger because of an angle it may be pitched at.

Our drop sensors are analog sensors that can sense objects up to 120mm away.

-Does the XV-11 have an alert sound for when it runs out of power or gets stuck somewhere?

Yes. It plays an alert and has a message on its LCD to let the user know what is happening or what it needs to fix the situation. If it is running low on power, and sees its base while cleaning, it will return to its base to recharge and then go back out to finish cleaning where it left off.

-When is the XV-11 going to be released?

This summer.

-Will XV-11 be sold in any retail stores?

Yes. It will initially be sold online and with retailers like Hammacher Schlemmer. When larger quantities are available, the Neato XV-11 will also be sold in retail stores. There has been great interest from reputable retailers, however at this time we cannot announce which retailers will be our partners.

-Will there be a 230V version?

Yes.

-Is there a spot cleaning mode?

There is not a spot cleaning mode. In speaking with consumers, if they have a quick spot to clean, they preferred to use a hand vac or something like that. Or, if there is a concentrated large spill of say Cheerios, they’d prefer to use a broom, not their robotic vacuum. We decided, based on consumer input, to simplify and just press START to start cleaning and not have different options like that.

-Will the Neato support hacking?

Eventually, we would love to. We’ve had a lot of input from people who love to tinker with their robot creations. But, first we need to focus on shipping the main product as a priority.

-Roomba forgets its schedule and must be reprogrammed if it runs out of juice, how about the Neato?

The Neato XV-11 should never lose its scheduling program, but if power is completely lost then the user will need to reset its clock.

-I would be very interested in hearing very robotics specific things like design issues they had, speaking from a purely robot builder perspective. Also once the initial idea to make the robot was decided, how was the design team built up over time as the designs evolved to a final product?

Users expect the robotic vacuum to just work. Press a button and it works. They don’t want it to be complicated. In order to make the product simple, there are a lot of complicated mechanics to making the robot work without you being there — including suspension, vacuum suction systems, sensors to detect drop offs, furniture, etc. to keep it from bumping furniture or dropping off of a stair, maximizing the dirt bin capacity, making it all work in a small package with little battery power, etc. etc. We’ve had to deal with all of these myriads of items throughout the years. Building the RPS (room positioning system) and the SLAM (simultaneous location and mapping) technology into the robot were probably the biggest accomplishments. The RPS technology is something that we brought the cost from $1000-$2500 down to $25. And, making all of the SLAM intelligence work well was also a big accomplishment in such a low priced consumer product. So, there were many things we were dealing with simultaneously to make it all happen. The hardware, mechanical, and software engineers were all critical contributors to making it all work seamlessly for the user. And, all working together was crucial to ultimately meeting the customer requirements.

Here are iRobot’s answers:

-What is the maximum obstacle height that the robot can get over? Conversely, what is the maximum drop that the robot will attempt before its edge sensors are activated?

This varies on the obstacle itself. When faced with an obstacle, Roomba’s adaptive navigation technology will allow Roomba to go into different behaviors to either navigate over the obstacle or lightly bump against it and then turn away. A clear difference in height will activate Roomba’s cliff sensing technology so that it will not fall from stairs or other drop-offs.

-If I let the Roomba 560 loose on the whole house and the dock station is in my room, how slim is the chance that it will find the dock again before starving it’s battery? It needs to wander around for as long as it takes hoping that it gets near the dock again before the battery dies, right?

Given that Roomba is put through its regular operating procedure, has a healthy battery and isn’t interfered with by anyone as it navigates your home, it should find its way back to its home base just fine.

-iRobot has the Roomba Serial Command Interface and a forum about how to hack the Roomba. The Roomba itself has a mini-DIN TTL serial interface that is obnoxious to hook up to (neither physically nor electrically compatible with a pc or mac) but third party options exist to allow direct programming of the Roomba’s onboard computer. Is there a reason why iRobot didn’t go with USB or a standard serial port?

While Roomba is a hack-friendly device, a USB port wasn’t a requirement during its design process, and a standard serial port would be too big. The main goal was to create a robot that cleans people’s floors, and in that sense, it does its job very well. With that said, iRobot also offers the iRobot Create Programmable Robot. Create is an affordable mobile platform that anyone can use (with a standard serial port) to learn more about robots and build one themselves. You can find out more about Create at www.irobot.com.

-Have [you] considered an option to remote control their robot vacuum over the internet and stream video? this would be a great way for people to check up on their homes when they’re away. few people seem willing to buy a separate robot for that exclusive task, but if iRobot offered a < $100 add on that provides that feature, i'd buy it and put it on my roomba 560.

Telepresence is something that iRobot is still interested in exploring. However, Roomba has found success in vacuuming floors and it will continue to do so. Making robots is hard, and making multi-tasking robots is even harder. Plus, robots that do multiple things tend to be expensive. By focusing on practical single-use robots, we are able to keep the price down and allow the robot, like Roomba, to do what we all want it to…clean.

So, there you go. There may have been a few questions that weren’t addressed, but we have a more or less direct line to reps at both companies, so feel free to post any further questions and I’ll get back on it.

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Category: Consumer

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