RoboticVacuumCleaner
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LG's robotic vacuum is both janitor and security guard
LG has launched its latest Hom-Bot robotic vacuum, the Turbo+, and is trying a few techie gimmicks to make it stand out from the latest models by Roomba and Dyson. The main new feature on the Turbo+ is "Home-Joy," a quasi-augmented reality (AR) function that takes advantage of a smartphone app. All you need to do is point your smartphone's camera at a region of the floor you want to clean and the Turbo+ will go to town on it, eliminating the need for any tedious mapping.
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.
Mint automatic floor cleaner up for pre-order, shipping this summer
It's not like the automatic vacuum cleaner market could get much more crowded, but Evolution Robotics has put an interesting twist on things with its Swiffer-packin' Mint. If you'll recall, we saw this guy wiping up the downright disgusting floors of the Las Vegas Convention Center back in January, and now it looks as if production plans are moving along nicely. Equipped with a NorthStar positioning technology that enables it to never hit the same spot twice on the same run, this hardwood sweeper is now up for pre-order. Unfortunately, getting in line requires a non-refundable $20 deposit, but the outlay will be applied to the purchase price and will enable you to snag one of the first shipments this summer (which is significantly more awesome than waiting for it to hit retail shelves in Q4). Don't worry -- your Roomba won't be too envious.
Samsung NaviBot SR8845 / SR8855 vacuum cleaner hands-on
It didn't take long for these NaviBots to win our hearts -- we only spent about five intimate minutes watching them vacuuming the floor at Samsung's UK product launch event, but frankly, we fell hard upon first sight. On the left we have the SR8845 basic model going for £399 ($599), and the SR8855 at the rear is priced higher at £449 ($674) with its touch-sensitive buttons (instead of physical ones), on-board scheduler (instead of a countdown timer) and a pair of Virtual Guards -- boxes that create an infrared virtual fence to create a priority cleaning zone or to block the NaviBots -- instead of one. That said, both bots have the same vacuum performance, have visionary mapping, run for 90 minutes on a two-hour charge, and have anti-fall / anti-collision technology to boot. Say whatever you want about the prices and feel free to doubt the bots' sucking abilities, but hopefully the video after the break will at least leave you with a smile. Both will be in British shops at the end of April.%Gallery-87796%
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%
