4 ms·
I used to own an early-generation Roomba. I believe, the entirety of its sensors were: - microswitches that trigger if it ran into something - a set of photod
by xg15 4y ago
I used to own an early-generation Roomba. I believe, the entirety of its sensors were:
- microswitches that trigger if it ran into something
- a set of photodiodes for detecting "cliffs", i.e. keep it from falling down the stairs
- another photodiode for sensing the dock's IR beacon
- something that looked like a step counter (but it kept getting gunked up, yet never impacted the robot's behaviour - which makes me believe it wasn't actually used for anything)
No cameras, LIDARs or internet connection, and I'm pretty sure no local mapmaking either.
Movement was essentially random, with a small set of heuristics and preprogrammed patterns. When you were actually watching the robot, the random movement was kind of ennerving - it would frequently clean the same spot over and over again, while completely missing another spot right next to it.
However, when setting the robot on a daily cleaning schedule, the random movements would even out and the room would be cleaned pretty well in the end.
- trhway 4y agoGiving the amount of the territory already polluted with unexploded ordinance in Ukraine i imagine in near future Roomba tanks wondering around "cleaning" the fields/etc.
- voakbasda 4y agoThat would be a huge missed opportunity to call it a "Boomba".
- eddieroger 4y agoI had one of those, and I think the cliff detector was even more basic - a sensor that brushed against the floor and tripped when it no longer was pressed. I remember being disappointed when I learned that it's approach to sweeping was "do it for a long time and eventually you'll get everything." Maybe, but I had higher expectations. Mine also regularly blew through the IR "walls" and got stuck under a dresser, waiting for me to return home with it's familiar "help" beeps.
- xg15 4y agoThen you had a different model. The one bit I know for certain about mine was that the cliff detector was optical. How? By noticing one day that the black areas of my striped carpet were inexplicably accumulating more dirt than the rest of it. Took me some time to find out that the robot treated black floor as "hole in the ground" and made an active effort not to drive over it... > Mine also regularly blew through the IR "walls" and got stuck under a dresser, waiting for me to return home with it's familiar "help" beeps. Yup, got those often enough as well...
- ryandvm 4y agoAh, the old Looney Tune hole in the floor trick.