10 ms·

30 Years of iRobot

130 points by MaysonL 7y ago

madengr 7y ago
We just bought the latest vacuum and mop robots, and they work fairly well. We had bought one 17 years ago and it didn’t work well at all. They have made good progress in the control algorithms since.
lallysingh 7y ago
So here's my problem with them: large product line, large variation in features and prices, no idea which is the simplest machine that will clean my living room. I don't want to buy the most expensive and then keep exchanging down to the simplest one that works. Seriously, I don't know anyone who has this implemented across most of their house. They get one as a gift or experiment, and maybes it works. I'd love to have these all over my house doing the work, but I have no idea what that actually requires.
- woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
  The simplest machine that will clean your living room? That'd be the 675. It's currently $219.99 on their website--it can easily clean one room. But you also mention having them "all over [your] house." In that case, I'd recommend the i7 or s9. I've got the i7 and I think it's fantastic. There are a few factors to consider, but it's not complicated. Do you have mostly carpet or hard flooring? Any kids or pets? Do you want it to clean the whole house or just one room?
  - kapilvt 7y ago
    also do you want to clean with the lights out, in regular patterns... in which case botvac is worth a gander (lidar, square face [corners]). I dig irobot backend (camera recog) but eod consumer tech has one judge, does it work? and under what conditions. ps. newer models of irobot are exploring the lidar space pss. military applications are under a different irobot spin out/brand.
    - woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
      Yes, cleaning with/without lights is another consideration, but an easy one to overcome no matter your preference. I went all in and have smart lighting that comes on when the Roomba runs at night, but it doesn't need much light, and the same thing could be accomplished with a cheap Hue bulb or even a "dumb" timer.
  - wenc 7y ago
    Second the 675. Best Buy had it in-store for $199 so I got one before my state's stay-at-home order and love it. It's not the smartest Roomba ever (it bumps around a lot to learn its environment--I don't think its sensor suite is that advanced) but it does the job just fine. I just let it run while I'm working. There's a psychological benefit to having clean floors, especially when one is home a lot these days.
- malandrew 7y ago
  My suggestion is to get the basic one suggested by the Wirecutter (model 675, $220) then get a top of the line Dyson vacuum (V11 Animal). They are good for lazy surface cleaning but given the form factor, they’ll never have the cleaning power of the Dyson.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    The obvious area in my house for an iRobot is the kitchen/dining room area which is what actually gets crumbs etc. on a pretty regular basis. I don't have pets/kids so the rest of the house doesn't actually need vacuuming all that often. (And normally I have a monthly housekeeper.) But the kitchen/dining area also has cords, chairs, and (under normal circumstances) various things being packed/unpacked in various corners. My compromise a couple years ago was to get a Dyson which is super-quick to whip out and spend a few minutes doing a rough vacuum. MUCH easier than to haul out my old canister vac. And probably less effort than keeping things iRobot ready and emptying it.
    - woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
      It sounds like you found a good solution for your situation. I have both kids and a dog, so the daily cleaning my Roomba does is a game changer. No more piles of fur or crumbs accumulating in the corners. I have to empty the bin every other day, but it takes me less time to do that than it would to manually vacuum the main traffic areas in the house once or twice a week. Personally, I like the fact that the Roomba forces me to keep wires and other stuff of the floor. I think it makes my house appear less cluttered overall, but it's a matter of opinion. I actually have a cordless Dyson too, which I think complements the Roomba well. I use it to occasionally deep clean a couple of area rugs.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        I can definitely see that a Roomba would be handy if I otherwise had to vacuum living areas every day or two. (And, under the circumstances of children or pets, I'd probably need to avoid having "packing piles" and wires laying around in any case.)
- oh_sigh 7y ago
  Looking at their site, there are two robot vacuums that are $599.99 - the i7 and the 960. When you do a comparison on the site, they list the only difference as the i7 has more suction, more features, and more compatibility with other iRobot offerings. So why do they even offer the 960? I can imagine anyone who buys that would be disappointed to find out that they could have had the i7 for the same exact price with better features.
- pfranz 7y ago
  In cases like that (where they also span across brands) I usually check out which single one Costco sells or what something like Wirecutter recommends as the "base." My specific needs may vary, but it's a start. If you can afford it and are willing to spend the money, the robot vacuum and handheld combination @malandrew mentioned is a pairing that has worked for our house for the past few years now.
- dvcrn 7y ago
  Yes I agree, I had EXACTLY the same problem a couple of weeks ago when I decided to get a Roomba. The website told me "e series", "600 series", "i series", "s series", "900 series" - then even though they are called "series", most of them have only one product in them. I wanted something mid-range to get started and the product picker tool they have recommended me the e5 because I have a pet. I went through dozens of reviews to finally learn that it doesn't have a camera and vSlam, so it just slams into everything and doesn't map my place over time. I went with the next higher model that has a camera, the 960 and it has been doing a good job. As a techie I was a bit disappointed that I picked a model from 2016 and that they kept the smarter features like keep-out zones for the higher ones. Eventually returned it and got an i7 for a similar price and it's a pretty fantastic product, though I ended up paying much more for my experiment than I anticipated... The product comparison page ([0]) is doing an ok job but I wish they'd make product selection a bit easier. [0]: https://www.irobot.com/roomba/compare-products https://www.irobot.com/roomba/compare-products
  - woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
    The 600 series is actually a relatively mature product line; there are only two models in this series currently, but there were many before them. The 900 series used to have the 980 and 985 in addition to the 960, but iRobot shifted its focus to the "e", "i", and "s" series. These are all brand new product lines, and I don't doubt that the e5, i7 and s9 won't be the last models in each one. Furthermore, I suspect the 600 and 900 series will be discontinued altogether in the next year or two. You just happened to be shopping for a Roomba while iRobot was changing their product naming scheme.
  - sytelus 7y ago
    When you are faced with tons of badly named products page without any good comparison tool, its sign of internal disorganization and specifically that CEO is memely a fiannce/account guy. In such companies, you will have marketting department which is clueless about products, PR department which is clueless about marketting, sales department which only functions because of personal relationships with few thousand ton gorillas. For reference, check out virtually any computer manufacturer's website except Apple.
  - 7y ago
- wpietri 7y ago
  Wirecutter has a good guide: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-robot-vacuum/ https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-robot-vacuum/ But honestly, actual needs are going vary by what your house is like, who lives in it, how they live, and what their standards are. And on how your habits and preferences adjust as you get used to what they can do for you. At the end of the day, none of these are as good as manual vacuuming. But they're way better than not vacuuming. I'm sure it's frustrating to have to just try one and see, but I honestly don't think there's a better approach.
  - woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
    In my opinion, it's a totally different approach that accomplishes roughly the same thing. I agree that manually vacuuming is better, but you probably don't have the wherewithal to do it daily. The average amount of dirt on your floors after manually cleaning once or twice a week is probably the same, or more, as what a Roomba leaves on the floors after cleaning daily. That's really where it shines: relentlessly cleaning every day.
    - jetrink 7y ago
      Also, a robot vacuum scoots under the couch, bed and other furniture, cleaning places every day that I used to get to once a month (at best).
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  > I don't want to buy the most expensive and then keep exchanging down to the simplest one that works. You can do that in O(log n) number of steps if you start with a mid-tier model and binary-search through their product line :).
syntaxing 7y ago
I don't own a iRobot but a Neato mainly because of cost. But I really like how iRobot sells the Create series [1]. [1] https://store.irobot.com/en_US/create-programmable-programmable-robot-irobot-create-2/RC65099.html https://store.irobot.com/en_US/create-programmable-programma...
- neilv 7y ago
  Besides the Create, iRobot also left an easily accessible serial port connector on various series of Roombas, and published the interface protocols, and sold a cable, for education/hobby purposes. A lot of general info about this is collected in the documentation for a particular library that uses it: https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/roomba/ https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/roomba/ I wrote this library when I found a Roomba 400 in a Goodwill thrift store for $20. When, if living in the future of having your own robot vacuum cleaner was not cool enough, hey, what's this mini-DIN connector for... :) (Also on the topic of liking iRobot: That same $20 Roomba was also the first time I met an iRobot person. I eventually bought a used 530, and was giving the 400 to a friend. Since I owned robots but not a car, I strapped the Roomba's retail box to my trusty little luggage cart, to meet my friend for lunch. Afterwards, as we're walking along the dirt path along a bank of the Charles River near Harvard Square, rolling the Roomba behind us, this jogger comes running along, and then stops. Turns out she worked for iRobot, was super-nice, and was tickled to see a vintage Roomba in nature.)
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - esel2k 7y ago
    I tried playing around with the connector but my chip was getting superhot. So I gave up. What hardware component did you use? I might want to try again now. Thanks
    - neilv 6y ago
      Level converter chip? FTDI chip? I used various iRobot cables, plus sometimes generic FTDI-based RS232-to-USB adapter. If you're making your own cable, be advised that some of the pinouts are bad. Various cable-related tidbits are at: https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/roomba/#%28part._.Cables%29 https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/roomba/#%28part._.Cables%...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
dvcrn 7y ago
I was in the market for a robot vacuum and went with iRobot over Xiamoi/Roborock or Neato, to a big part because of their stance to privacy, but also because of things like they stopping military robots to focus on the consumer markets, embracing 'hackers' with the create robots and their patented dual rubber brush design that's in most of their robots. The product that I use right now, the i7+ (bought a 960 first and returned it) has been pretty fantastic. It feels like an actual smart automatic cleaning system that takes care of my place and cleans itself with the station that came with it. Tech wise - other products use Lidar so they can run in the dark and create the map much faster and more accurately than vSlam that my Roomba uses, so that'd be a nice thing to have but I don't really run it in the dark anyway. The Roomba exceeded my expectations so much that I went and bought their cheapest dumb mopping robot, the Braava 240 and even though it doesn't have smart navigation or maps, it's great. Just fill it up, put it in the corner, press start and it'll mop everywhere. In total I spent a lot more money than I wanted to spend but my place has never been cleaner. No more cat hair or dust bunnies flying around, no crumbs in my carpet, I sneeze much less, everything gets mopped regularly, and for the roomba all I have to do is change the dust bag in the station once in a while (besides occasional cleaning of parts). If either of them breaks I would without hesitation re-buy them. I'm excited to see what they'll come up with next, but I also hope they won't get left behind with innovation and tech. The others (esp Roborock) iterate much faster, cost less and pack more features that often get rolled out to their older robots as well (no-go zones for example. iRobot didn't add them to their older camera-based robots like the 960 and kept them for i7 and higher)
- taspeotis 7y ago
  I also have a robot + mop combo from iRobot and it’s pretty good. Mine’s the more entry level vacuum without SLAM but it’s good enough. If/when it dies I’ll upgrade.
- woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
  I have a similar combination, the i7 with a 240, and I also think they're great. I can't even remember life before daily automatic floor cleanings. I think you're right about iRobot's competition iterating more quickly, and I'm also concerned that they might get left behind. Another concern is their pricing. They're clearing trying to establish their robots as the premium models in the market space—ones that "just work"—but the price tags are astronomical. Their two flagship models, which were advertised as working best in tandem, cost nearly $2,000 together when they were first released.
umeshunni 7y ago
>> We built it to match the reliability standards of European upright vacuums, something of which we were very proud. Of course, we didn’t anticipate that our customers would run their Roomba once per day, rather than the once per week average the European standard set – and as the first generation of Roomba robots broke down two years ahead of schedule This is a super interesting insight for when you're building consumer products. When you make something super-easy to do, expect usage to 10x or even 100x. I've seen high-unit economics consumer products build with cost estimates that assume an average user doing task X once a month. If we make it possible to do the task with a free app, even though it costs us $Y to do this, our total monthly cost per user is $Y. These estimates then get blown out the water when users start doing the task 10 times a month.
- aidenn0 7y ago
  I've been beating this drum about self-driving cars for a while. All these rosy predictions of traffic being better neglect the fact that usage will go way up.
  - ctdonath 7y ago
    Rather than paying for parking, herds of cars will slowly cruise local streets, awaiting summons.
    - kumarvvr 7y ago
      All this innovation and we have come to the point where cars cruising waiting for summons is a better solution than just parking.
    - xvedejas 7y ago
      This sounds like quite the opposite of the future I (optimistically) think we're moving towards: reclaiming our streets for pedestrians and cyclists.
    - numpad0 7y ago
      So tax unoccupied driving.
spockz 7y ago
I would love to have a roomba. However, there is always some toys from the kids or Lego laying around. Is any of the robots smart enough to stay clear of the toys or maybe even gather them in a central place?
- ragebol 7y ago
  > stay clear of the toys There is a bumper, if pressed hard enough it moves another direction. If its big enough it might show up on the laser scanner. > or maybe even gather them in a central place? No. The appropriate XKCD for that is maybe https://xkcd.com/1425/ https://xkcd.com/1425/
  - ProZsolt 7y ago
    This XKCD reminds me of how far we got. Identifying objects on a picture quite easy nowadays. This conversation would be something like: I need 100000 pictures with birds and 100000 without birds.
    - ragebol 6y ago
      There is a project (which I can't find now) to identify birds just on their birdsong, IIRC. My quick DDG search came back with https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.birdsongid https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.b... but I haven't tried it.
- cactus2093 7y ago
  I haven’t tried the highest end models but my mid tier roomba certainly doesn’t. That’s the biggest issue with it, you need to be a very tidy person already for it to work for you. Leave a purse or backpack on the floor in the corner? Shoes by the door? Much less some toys. The roomba is gonna get stuck on a strap or shoelace or something. You can block off dedicated areas with their virtual walls, but need to make sure you never leave anything on the ground outside of those areas. There’s also a bug where any high contrast rug, like any light rug with a stripe or pattern, confuses the stair sensors so roomba thinks it’s “stuck on a cliff”. There’s no way to turn this off even if you promise the roomba that you live in a one-story apartment. So on days that I want to run the roomba, not only do I need to tidy up first but need to fold up the rug and make sure it’s off the floor. Maybe in my household we’re just messier than average, but the roomba is certainly not a set it and forget it kind of device. I also have a cordless vacuum and I’ve gone back to just manually vacuuming once a week, the roomba might still save a bit of time over all but the mental overhead of babysitting it is ultimately not really worth it for me.
lou1306 7y ago
Strange that the post never mentions iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks. His academic work on the so-called "subsumption architecture" clearly influenced the Roomba so much.
kevincox 7y ago
The biggest problem I have with iRobot is that all of the newer models require an internet connection. I understand that some features like remote starting and notifications must depend on an internet connection but in the newer models almost everything depends on that connection, including scheduling. This means that if you don't want to connect your vacuum to the internet you are back to starting it manually whenever you want a clean. Personally I don't want a robot that depends on WiFi mostly because I don't trust that their backend services will keep running for years as they release 8 newer models and want to clean up their codebase. Security is another issue but since their vacuums don't have cameras putting it on an untrused network mostly solves that problem.
- ericlewis 7y ago
  The vacuum I have of theirs has a camera, but point taken. You can also disconnect from internet after setting schedule and it seems to work.

130 points by MaysonL 7y ago

We just bought the latest vacuum and mop robots, and they work fairly well. We had bought one 17 years ago and it didn’t work well at all. They have made good progress in the control algorithms since.

lallysingh 7y ago

So here's my problem with them: large product line, large variation in features and prices, no idea which is the simplest machine that will clean my living room. I don't want to buy the most expensive and then keep exchanging down to the simplest one that works. Seriously, I don't know anyone who has this implemented across most of their house. They get one as a gift or experiment, and maybes it works. I'd love to have these all over my house doing the work, but I have no idea what that actually requires.

woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
The simplest machine that will clean your living room? That'd be the 675. It's currently $219.99 on their website--it can easily clean one room. But you also mention having them "all over [your] house." In that case, I'd recommend the i7 or s9. I've got the i7 and I think it's fantastic. There are a few factors to consider, but it's not complicated. Do you have mostly carpet or hard flooring? Any kids or pets? Do you want it to clean the whole house or just one room?
- kapilvt 7y ago
  also do you want to clean with the lights out, in regular patterns... in which case botvac is worth a gander (lidar, square face [corners]). I dig irobot backend (camera recog) but eod consumer tech has one judge, does it work? and under what conditions. ps. newer models of irobot are exploring the lidar space pss. military applications are under a different irobot spin out/brand.
  - woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
    Yes, cleaning with/without lights is another consideration, but an easy one to overcome no matter your preference. I went all in and have smart lighting that comes on when the Roomba runs at night, but it doesn't need much light, and the same thing could be accomplished with a cheap Hue bulb or even a "dumb" timer.
- wenc 7y ago
  Second the 675. Best Buy had it in-store for $199 so I got one before my state's stay-at-home order and love it. It's not the smartest Roomba ever (it bumps around a lot to learn its environment--I don't think its sensor suite is that advanced) but it does the job just fine. I just let it run while I'm working. There's a psychological benefit to having clean floors, especially when one is home a lot these days.
malandrew 7y ago
My suggestion is to get the basic one suggested by the Wirecutter (model 675, $220) then get a top of the line Dyson vacuum (V11 Animal). They are good for lazy surface cleaning but given the form factor, they’ll never have the cleaning power of the Dyson.
- ghaff 7y ago
  The obvious area in my house for an iRobot is the kitchen/dining room area which is what actually gets crumbs etc. on a pretty regular basis. I don't have pets/kids so the rest of the house doesn't actually need vacuuming all that often. (And normally I have a monthly housekeeper.) But the kitchen/dining area also has cords, chairs, and (under normal circumstances) various things being packed/unpacked in various corners. My compromise a couple years ago was to get a Dyson which is super-quick to whip out and spend a few minutes doing a rough vacuum. MUCH easier than to haul out my old canister vac. And probably less effort than keeping things iRobot ready and emptying it.
  - woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
    It sounds like you found a good solution for your situation. I have both kids and a dog, so the daily cleaning my Roomba does is a game changer. No more piles of fur or crumbs accumulating in the corners. I have to empty the bin every other day, but it takes me less time to do that than it would to manually vacuum the main traffic areas in the house once or twice a week. Personally, I like the fact that the Roomba forces me to keep wires and other stuff of the floor. I think it makes my house appear less cluttered overall, but it's a matter of opinion. I actually have a cordless Dyson too, which I think complements the Roomba well. I use it to occasionally deep clean a couple of area rugs.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      I can definitely see that a Roomba would be handy if I otherwise had to vacuum living areas every day or two. (And, under the circumstances of children or pets, I'd probably need to avoid having "packing piles" and wires laying around in any case.)
oh_sigh 7y ago
Looking at their site, there are two robot vacuums that are $599.99 - the i7 and the 960. When you do a comparison on the site, they list the only difference as the i7 has more suction, more features, and more compatibility with other iRobot offerings. So why do they even offer the 960? I can imagine anyone who buys that would be disappointed to find out that they could have had the i7 for the same exact price with better features.
pfranz 7y ago
In cases like that (where they also span across brands) I usually check out which single one Costco sells or what something like Wirecutter recommends as the "base." My specific needs may vary, but it's a start. If you can afford it and are willing to spend the money, the robot vacuum and handheld combination @malandrew mentioned is a pairing that has worked for our house for the past few years now.
dvcrn 7y ago
Yes I agree, I had EXACTLY the same problem a couple of weeks ago when I decided to get a Roomba. The website told me "e series", "600 series", "i series", "s series", "900 series" - then even though they are called "series", most of them have only one product in them. I wanted something mid-range to get started and the product picker tool they have recommended me the e5 because I have a pet. I went through dozens of reviews to finally learn that it doesn't have a camera and vSlam, so it just slams into everything and doesn't map my place over time. I went with the next higher model that has a camera, the 960 and it has been doing a good job. As a techie I was a bit disappointed that I picked a model from 2016 and that they kept the smarter features like keep-out zones for the higher ones. Eventually returned it and got an i7 for a similar price and it's a pretty fantastic product, though I ended up paying much more for my experiment than I anticipated... The product comparison page ([0]) is doing an ok job but I wish they'd make product selection a bit easier. [0]: https://www.irobot.com/roomba/compare-products https://www.irobot.com/roomba/compare-products
- woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
  The 600 series is actually a relatively mature product line; there are only two models in this series currently, but there were many before them. The 900 series used to have the 980 and 985 in addition to the 960, but iRobot shifted its focus to the "e", "i", and "s" series. These are all brand new product lines, and I don't doubt that the e5, i7 and s9 won't be the last models in each one. Furthermore, I suspect the 600 and 900 series will be discontinued altogether in the next year or two. You just happened to be shopping for a Roomba while iRobot was changing their product naming scheme.
- sytelus 7y ago
  When you are faced with tons of badly named products page without any good comparison tool, its sign of internal disorganization and specifically that CEO is memely a fiannce/account guy. In such companies, you will have marketting department which is clueless about products, PR department which is clueless about marketting, sales department which only functions because of personal relationships with few thousand ton gorillas. For reference, check out virtually any computer manufacturer's website except Apple.
- 7y ago
wpietri 7y ago
Wirecutter has a good guide: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-robot-vacuum/ https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-robot-vacuum/ But honestly, actual needs are going vary by what your house is like, who lives in it, how they live, and what their standards are. And on how your habits and preferences adjust as you get used to what they can do for you. At the end of the day, none of these are as good as manual vacuuming. But they're way better than not vacuuming. I'm sure it's frustrating to have to just try one and see, but I honestly don't think there's a better approach.
- woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
  In my opinion, it's a totally different approach that accomplishes roughly the same thing. I agree that manually vacuuming is better, but you probably don't have the wherewithal to do it daily. The average amount of dirt on your floors after manually cleaning once or twice a week is probably the same, or more, as what a Roomba leaves on the floors after cleaning daily. That's really where it shines: relentlessly cleaning every day.
  - jetrink 7y ago
    Also, a robot vacuum scoots under the couch, bed and other furniture, cleaning places every day that I used to get to once a month (at best).
TeMPOraL 7y ago
> I don't want to buy the most expensive and then keep exchanging down to the simplest one that works. You can do that in O(log n) number of steps if you start with a mid-tier model and binary-search through their product line :).

syntaxing 7y ago

I don't own a iRobot but a Neato mainly because of cost. But I really like how iRobot sells the Create series [1]. [1] https://store.irobot.com/en_US/create-programmable-programmable-robot-irobot-create-2/RC65099.html https://store.irobot.com/en_US/create-programmable-programma...

neilv 7y ago
Besides the Create, iRobot also left an easily accessible serial port connector on various series of Roombas, and published the interface protocols, and sold a cable, for education/hobby purposes. A lot of general info about this is collected in the documentation for a particular library that uses it: https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/roomba/ https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/roomba/ I wrote this library when I found a Roomba 400 in a Goodwill thrift store for $20. When, if living in the future of having your own robot vacuum cleaner was not cool enough, hey, what's this mini-DIN connector for... :) (Also on the topic of liking iRobot: That same $20 Roomba was also the first time I met an iRobot person. I eventually bought a used 530, and was giving the 400 to a friend. Since I owned robots but not a car, I strapped the Roomba's retail box to my trusty little luggage cart, to meet my friend for lunch. Afterwards, as we're walking along the dirt path along a bank of the Charles River near Harvard Square, rolling the Roomba behind us, this jogger comes running along, and then stops. Turns out she worked for iRobot, was super-nice, and was tickled to see a vintage Roomba in nature.)
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- esel2k 7y ago
  I tried playing around with the connector but my chip was getting superhot. So I gave up. What hardware component did you use? I might want to try again now. Thanks
  - neilv 6y ago
    Level converter chip? FTDI chip? I used various iRobot cables, plus sometimes generic FTDI-based RS232-to-USB adapter. If you're making your own cable, be advised that some of the pinouts are bad. Various cable-related tidbits are at: https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/roomba/#%28part._.Cables%29 https://www.neilvandyke.org/racket/roomba/#%28part._.Cables%...

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

dvcrn 7y ago

I was in the market for a robot vacuum and went with iRobot over Xiamoi/Roborock or Neato, to a big part because of their stance to privacy, but also because of things like they stopping military robots to focus on the consumer markets, embracing 'hackers' with the create robots and their patented dual rubber brush design that's in most of their robots. The product that I use right now, the i7+ (bought a 960 first and returned it) has been pretty fantastic. It feels like an actual smart automatic cleaning system that takes care of my place and cleans itself with the station that came with it. Tech wise - other products use Lidar so they can run in the dark and create the map much faster and more accurately than vSlam that my Roomba uses, so that'd be a nice thing to have but I don't really run it in the dark anyway. The Roomba exceeded my expectations so much that I went and bought their cheapest dumb mopping robot, the Braava 240 and even though it doesn't have smart navigation or maps, it's great. Just fill it up, put it in the corner, press start and it'll mop everywhere. In total I spent a lot more money than I wanted to spend but my place has never been cleaner. No more cat hair or dust bunnies flying around, no crumbs in my carpet, I sneeze much less, everything gets mopped regularly, and for the roomba all I have to do is change the dust bag in the station once in a while (besides occasional cleaning of parts). If either of them breaks I would without hesitation re-buy them. I'm excited to see what they'll come up with next, but I also hope they won't get left behind with innovation and tech. The others (esp Roborock) iterate much faster, cost less and pack more features that often get rolled out to their older robots as well (no-go zones for example. iRobot didn't add them to their older camera-based robots like the 960 and kept them for i7 and higher)

taspeotis 7y ago
I also have a robot + mop combo from iRobot and it’s pretty good. Mine’s the more entry level vacuum without SLAM but it’s good enough. If/when it dies I’ll upgrade.
woriuweflksdncn 7y ago
I have a similar combination, the i7 with a 240, and I also think they're great. I can't even remember life before daily automatic floor cleanings. I think you're right about iRobot's competition iterating more quickly, and I'm also concerned that they might get left behind. Another concern is their pricing. They're clearing trying to establish their robots as the premium models in the market space—ones that "just work"—but the price tags are astronomical. Their two flagship models, which were advertised as working best in tandem, cost nearly $2,000 together when they were first released.

umeshunni 7y ago

>> We built it to match the reliability standards of European upright vacuums, something of which we were very proud. Of course, we didn’t anticipate that our customers would run their Roomba once per day, rather than the once per week average the European standard set – and as the first generation of Roomba robots broke down two years ahead of schedule This is a super interesting insight for when you're building consumer products. When you make something super-easy to do, expect usage to 10x or even 100x. I've seen high-unit economics consumer products build with cost estimates that assume an average user doing task X once a month. If we make it possible to do the task with a free app, even though it costs us $Y to do this, our total monthly cost per user is $Y. These estimates then get blown out the water when users start doing the task 10 times a month.

aidenn0 7y ago
I've been beating this drum about self-driving cars for a while. All these rosy predictions of traffic being better neglect the fact that usage will go way up.
- ctdonath 7y ago
  Rather than paying for parking, herds of cars will slowly cruise local streets, awaiting summons.
  - kumarvvr 7y ago
    All this innovation and we have come to the point where cars cruising waiting for summons is a better solution than just parking.
  - xvedejas 7y ago
    This sounds like quite the opposite of the future I (optimistically) think we're moving towards: reclaiming our streets for pedestrians and cyclists.
  - numpad0 7y ago
    So tax unoccupied driving.

spockz 7y ago

I would love to have a roomba. However, there is always some toys from the kids or Lego laying around. Is any of the robots smart enough to stay clear of the toys or maybe even gather them in a central place?

ragebol 7y ago
> stay clear of the toys There is a bumper, if pressed hard enough it moves another direction. If its big enough it might show up on the laser scanner. > or maybe even gather them in a central place? No. The appropriate XKCD for that is maybe https://xkcd.com/1425/ https://xkcd.com/1425/
- ProZsolt 7y ago
  This XKCD reminds me of how far we got. Identifying objects on a picture quite easy nowadays. This conversation would be something like: I need 100000 pictures with birds and 100000 without birds.
  - ragebol 6y ago
    There is a project (which I can't find now) to identify birds just on their birdsong, IIRC. My quick DDG search came back with https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.birdsongid https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.b... but I haven't tried it.
cactus2093 7y ago
I haven’t tried the highest end models but my mid tier roomba certainly doesn’t. That’s the biggest issue with it, you need to be a very tidy person already for it to work for you. Leave a purse or backpack on the floor in the corner? Shoes by the door? Much less some toys. The roomba is gonna get stuck on a strap or shoelace or something. You can block off dedicated areas with their virtual walls, but need to make sure you never leave anything on the ground outside of those areas. There’s also a bug where any high contrast rug, like any light rug with a stripe or pattern, confuses the stair sensors so roomba thinks it’s “stuck on a cliff”. There’s no way to turn this off even if you promise the roomba that you live in a one-story apartment. So on days that I want to run the roomba, not only do I need to tidy up first but need to fold up the rug and make sure it’s off the floor. Maybe in my household we’re just messier than average, but the roomba is certainly not a set it and forget it kind of device. I also have a cordless vacuum and I’ve gone back to just manually vacuuming once a week, the roomba might still save a bit of time over all but the mental overhead of babysitting it is ultimately not really worth it for me.

lou1306 7y ago

Strange that the post never mentions iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks. His academic work on the so-called "subsumption architecture" clearly influenced the Roomba so much.

kevincox 7y ago

The biggest problem I have with iRobot is that all of the newer models require an internet connection. I understand that some features like remote starting and notifications must depend on an internet connection but in the newer models almost everything depends on that connection, including scheduling. This means that if you don't want to connect your vacuum to the internet you are back to starting it manually whenever you want a clean. Personally I don't want a robot that depends on WiFi mostly because I don't trust that their backend services will keep running for years as they release 8 newer models and want to clean up their codebase. Security is another issue but since their vacuums don't have cameras putting it on an untrused network mostly solves that problem.

ericlewis 7y ago
The vacuum I have of theirs has a camera, but point taken. You can also disconnect from internet after setting schedule and it seems to work.