RobotVacuumCleaner
Latest
iRobot buys rival Evolution Robotics for $74 million to expand hard-floor cleaning tech
iRobot celebrated Roomba's 10th birthday quietly teeing up a $74 million acquisition of rival Evolution Robotics Inc. The Pasadena-based company produces the Mint, a hard-floor 'bot that uses ordinary Swiffer pads to wet-wipe your wooden decks clean -- and comes with the more sophisticated "Northstar" GPS-style positioning tech. As part of the deal, Evolution CEO Paolo Pirjanian will become iRobot's new CTO and the Mint and Mint Plus will be folded into the company's stable of Roomba cleaners -- with the deal expected to be fully approved by the fourth quarter of the year.
Ask Engadget: best robot cleaner for stone tile floors?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from Anthony, who needs some robotic help keeping his stone floors clean. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "We have stone tile floors in the kitchen and two kids. What wet floor cleaning robot would help us keep the floor clean, navigate the kitchen and handle the uneven stone floor tiles and grooves?" We love original and different questions like this, the more original and different the better, so let's help this gentleman out. It's the old story of the high-tech being flustered by the stone age, but what's the solution? Is it the iRobot Scooba, with its squeegee apparatus tucked underneath, or something else? Why not share your considerable experiences in the comments below.
Neato XV-11 robot vacuum gets its very own open source LIDAR hack
There's nothing like a little bounty to light a fire under a group of open source fanatics, is there? We saw this principle applied recently when Adafruit offered up cold, hard cash for an Open Source Kinect driver, and now one enterprising reader over at robotbox.net has gone and hacked the LIDAR unit on a Neato XV-11 robot vacuum -- and won $401 for the effort. What's this mean to you? Well, the gentleman (who goes by the nom de hack Hash79) can now read data sent from the optical ranging hardware on the vacuum to a PC. There has been a pretty enthusiastic group of hackers surrounding the device for a while now and now with a little hard work (and a $399 autonomous robot vacuum) you too can have a 360 degree scanning LIDAR with one degree accuracy and a 10Hz refresh rate. Pretty sweet, right? Video after the break.
Neato XV-11 ships out next month, will assassinate dust bunnies for money
Let's face it, a geek's solution to keeping floors clean will typically involve either family members, robots, or a combination of both. For the latter two groups, we've got news that Neato's XV-11 is all set to start shipping this week, with retail and expanded online availability by mid-July. The XV-11's biggest selling point is a laser-based room mapping system that will theoretically allow it to avoid objects other robo vacuums would detect only by impact. That should also deliver more efficient route planning for the little sucker, while the saved up energy will be channeled into what Neato claims is "the world's most powerful robotic vacuum system." Whether such brazen claims are enough to merit your $399, we leave up to you. Sure looks like a mean machine, though.
Neato's XV-11 robot vacuum gets the hands-on treatment
We had lots of fun playing with Neato's XV-11 robot sweeper -- probably as much fun as you can have watching something quietly vacuum a few M&Ms off of a carpet. Of course, the selling point is the company's Room Positioning System, which employs sensors to map the floor space (as opposed to merely bumping off walks). They are clearly gunning for Roomba's market share here -- but something tells me the latter company isn't worried. After all, we've never seen the XV-11 kill a viper. %Gallery-81901%
Neato's XV-11 robot vacuum maps out your floor for efficiency, doesn't ask for weekends off
Heads-up, Roomba -- your worst nightmare just waltzed into this space we like to call "reality," and it looks fully capable of giving your dirt sucking powers a run for their money. Neato Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup, has just come clean with its very first home service product: the XV-11 robotic vacuum cleaner. The device is the first to sport the company's own Room Positioning System, which utilizes an array of sensors to "intelligently map the entire floor space to choose the most effective path to clean the whole room, avoiding most obstacles other robots can only detect by impact." It's engineered to be used daily, whisking away dirt as you mind your own business and take even the smallest things in life for granted. We're told that it'll be cleaning up debris at CES early next month, though consumers at large won't be able to snag one until February when it hits shelves for $399. Video's just past the break. %Gallery-80422%
Samsung's Furot II robovac wants a piece of your Roomba
Roomba not sucking the way it used to? Samsung sure hopes not, as it has just recently pushed out a robotic vacuum cleaner of its very own. Quietly showcased during IFA earlier this month, the Furot II packs an oh-so-familiar design and sports an integrated camera and mapping system that enables it to find its way, remember its course and clean your floors with practically no human assistance. There's also an array of sensors that keep it from slamming into this and that, and the rechargeable battery keeps it humming for around 1.5 hours before petering out and making a beeline for its charging station. We get the impression that it'll be available in both black and refulgent red, though no price and release date is currently available.[Via Coolest-Gadgets]
