Samsung's Navibot robot vacuum charting European living rooms in April
By Tim Stevens 
posted February 23rd 2010 10:17AM
posted February 23rd 2010 10:17AM
Roomba has ruled the roost when it comes to domestic chores for a long time -- too long. It's getting some serious competition from Samsung, which is finally going to unleash one of its robovacs onto the rest of the world. Well, to Europe anyway. The Navibot is set to spread its wings across the EU in March, having been apparently warmly received in limited Italian tests last year. The bot captures 30fps video of your abode, documenting your feng shui and charting the most efficient course around your coffee table and the display case that houses your TMNT collection. It's even sophisticated enough to pick up where it left off should it run out of juice mid-stride, after returning home for a recharge, but that kind of smarts will cost you: €399 for the basic model with a single virtual wall, and €499 for a slightly posher version with touch-sensitive buttons and a second virtual wall. There's no word on an American release just yet, meaning Roomba's home turf is safe -- for now.
On the back it says "Made on Pandora".
Pandora is dust-free.
@One: Way I had it figured, Navibot is the baddest cat on the ground. Nothing attacks HIM, so why would he ever look "up"? .. that was just a theory.
@Ducman69 wheres the hot chick that always accompanies this thing?
Well if it can do R2-D2 sounds and react when I call R2, I´ll buy it, eventhough it wont run Crysis;)
I still don't dig the virtual wall plug things...there's gotta be a better way technologically to map out a house....maybe by using a laser or something? Or even pre-programming it with a schematic of where you want it to clean via usb \ software...maybe when these get a little more technologically advanced I'll actually buy one. They're already priced super high for the kind of tech. that they have so...
But does it do a good job VACUUMING? All the fancy electronics are good and all, but if my carpet is still dirty when it's done, why would I want to shell out 500 bucks for it?
Why on Earth does this capture video? Can you access it later?
@ColonelKernel
to see where it's going.
@ColonelKernel the Pennsylvania school district asked for the feature.
@nosdohr
One camera lense = no depth perception. And you can't tell me this thing is attempting object recognition.
Unless the camera is pointing straight up, mapping the place by filming the ceiling, the undersides of tables and up womans' dresses... at which point 30fps is a poor choice. It's much easier to stitch together individual images.
What!!!???? No beautiful Samsung models? I'm *really* dissappointed, Engadget.
Do you really expect us to talk about a vacuum cleaner? Geez.
How come the article is not tagged "robot apocalypse"? After having "..charting .. living rooms.." in the title.
My son has a couple of Roombas. He loves 'em.
I want a couple of these. The first one to clean the sa\tairs, wins.
What is the "virtual wall" thing?
The robot in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq5HZzGF3vQ
Yeah, its way smarter than the roomba.
I wonder how it does against the Neato, that sadly seems to launch in the US first. They seem to have equally intelligent ways of mapping the rooms. I personally favor the Neato for the greater suction and getting rid of Virtual Walls.
@justjc
Just by looking at the promo video of the Neato, you can tell the Samsung is way more intelligent. A laser that shoots horizontally across the floor will pick up every little changes and obstacles. A ceiling mounted visualization system (like that in the Samsung) has advantages in that the stuff on the ceiling rarely (unless intentionally) changes. Plus, this type of visualization will enable the robot to know where it is at at every moment. The Samsung knows where it stopped, before going back to the charger, and starts back up at the last place it finished. Therefore, no human interaction is needed.