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Something else that has happened since the initial talks of this merger is that Roomba machines have fallen far behind the competition who are both more driven
by ActionHank 3y ago
Something else that has happened since the initial talks of this merger is that Roomba machines have fallen far behind the competition who are both more driven and taking bigger risks offering better products for the same price or less.
- tooltower 3y agoI haven't kept up in recent years. Who are the better competitors these days?
- vosper 3y agoI don’t know if they’re better, but from watching reviews I believe Roborock and Dreame are considered pretty good competitors. I’m certainly happy with my Roborock (which has no cameras, and their latest model also comes in a no-camera variant) I wouldn’t touch an iRobot (or any camera vacuum) after their camera scandal: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-irobot-robot-vacuums-artificial-intelligence-training-data-privacy/amp/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-i...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- KerrAvon 3y agoFWIW, production Roombas don't send pictures back to the mothership. The scandal was that pictures from development Roombas -- explicitly expected to be reviewed by humans -- leaked.
- JoshGlazebrook 3y agoRoborock is miles ahead of Roomba.
- BossingAround 3y agoIn what ways? The Roomba J7 I'm using is pretty amazing at what it does; the only thing I'd appreciate would be a remote control for some manual cleaning. The automatic stuff is pretty great.
- izacus 3y agoFor starters, the best Roborock supports improved mopping, including a dock with self-emptying container, self-cleaning mop and proper refills. Together with noticably better obstacle avoidance algorithm. The new Xiaomi versions now even sport extendible arms to reach corners fully.
- Izkata 3y agoOn mops: The newest Dreame model can actually disconnect the mops and leave them in the dock, so because of the relationship through Xiaomi people seem to expect that to come soon to Roborock as well.
- ponector 3y agoRoborock can do more with lower price tag. Isn't it "miles ahead"?
- darknavi 3y agoRoborock (Xiaomi) and Dreame are the big players from what I see. Both conveniently have models that can be "de-clouded" with Valetudo: https://valetudo.cloud/ https://valetudo.cloud/
- datavirtue 3y agoDoes it matter? We are talking about fun consumerist novelties facing a shrinking population with shrinking disposable income. No one needs these "things."
- bombcar 3y agoThat’s the real issue. As far as I can tell everyone who wants a robot vacuum already has one, and if they’re crappy enough that you’d upgrade, they’re also crappy enough that you’ll likely just give up. If they work, you’d not feel the pressure to upgrade.
- driscoll42 3y agoI usually look at rtings robot vacuum reviews for recs: https://www.rtings.com/vacuum/reviews/best/robot https://www.rtings.com/vacuum/reviews/best/robot
- TylerE 3y agoRoomba was the Nomad. Who will be the iPod?
- slowmovintarget 3y agoTesla seems to be trying... but who knows.
- dylan604 3y agowhat cleaning robot does Tesla offer? what conversation are you in?
- Izkata 3y agoTesla smart home: https://www.teslasmart.com/ https://www.teslasmart.com/ Includes robot vacuums: https://www.teslasmart.com/smart-vacuum-cleaners https://www.teslasmart.com/smart-vacuum-cleaners
- adolph 3y agoThats TeslaSmart, not Tesla, the US automaker who also has a general purpose humanoid robot in development: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimus_(robot) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimus_(robot)
- Izkata 3y agoTheir brand is just "TESLA", not only can you see it on their homepage a few times but it's also stamped into their products like that: https://www.teslasmart.com/data/images-xl/3413-Tesla-Smart-Robot-Vacuum-Laser-AI200-1920x1920-08.webp https://www.teslasmart.com/data/images-xl/3413-Tesla-Smart-R... Why assume that original comment was talking about the car manufacturer when there are robot vacuums from a much older company branded like that?
- TylerE 3y ago
- izacus 3y agoI think this market is pretty much the poster child of how bad the consolidation and lack of anti-trust is hurting US economy right now. You have a whole bunch of Chinese companies fighting it out on the market (as the founding fathers would have wanted for US!), offering better and better products, leaving Roombas in the dust. While iRobot sleeps on their laurels, barely innovates and at best is only capable of solving their flaccid inability to compete by... being sold to a monopolist which can push it via their store. That's what they wanted. If US would still have this kind of healthy market of multiple (smaller) companies competing on product, not IP lawsuits and patents, the government wouldn't have to enact foreign sanctions to defend the economy.
- chucke1992 3y agoThe thing is the american workforce is too expensive at this point.
- nojvek 3y agoDesigned in US, Assembled in China. I feel there is a lot that can be done in US but the electronics industry is slowly eroding.
- throwaway2037 3y ago> the electronics industry is slowly eroding Or: The "electronics industry" (essentially contract manufacturing) is much too low margin to make economic sense in a highly developed country like the US. Have you seen the wages in the hyper competitive electronics industry in China? They are awful. Design and marketing is where most of the value can be captured. Look at Philips N.V. They are essentially strictly design in advanced countries, and manuf. in developing countries. They are doing well.
- coffeebeqn 3y agoAmazon should have known this better than anyone - I’d imagine they’re the biggest seller of robot vacuums in the world
- muttled 3y agoDoesn't Amazon want them more for their warehouse automation bots? Like the little things that carry around the pallets?