Slashdot Mirror
Roomba Competitor Slightly Lacking
tivojafa writes "Following hot on the heels of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, TV Products (USA) Inc have released the "RoboSweep" - "The intelligent sweeper that sweeps while you rest!".
Roomba by iRobot is an engineering masterpiece with 15 sensors and 5 motors to navigate and clean the floors. It has been stripped apart and there are rumors of a replacement processor so it can be used as a general purpose robot platform. Now the RoboSweep "intelligent" sweeper has redefined intelligence (or lack of it) - the internals have got to be seen to be believed." Very funny.
First they're cleaning carpets of dirt, next they'll be cleaning Earth of humans!
Now that's what I call quality engineering. And I love the analog 'processor'!
One motor.
One battery tray.
One switch.
One power socket.
One LED.
A few wires.
soo... who's going to be the first to get linux running on it?
Here is an idea for an ask slashdot thread:
"Have you ever bought anything off an infomercial and been happy with it?"
I cannot see why you would sell anything that way if it would sell in normal outlets.
Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. Probably not in this case though. :-P
"Let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average." - A. W. Tozer
I had a toy like this when I was a kid. I think we bought it at a flea market for like $15... although it didn't pretend to clean floors, it had a much cooler action robot head that moved its arms!
This robo sweeper is about as intelligant as a can opener.
This space for rent. Contact for our rates.
I seem to remember having a toy car as a kid that worked much the same way.
There are, however, a few key differences:
RoboSweep is
- more expensive
- slower
- less fun
And with almost no innards, it's not even fun to bash to pieces, Office Space style!
Be very careful when you see that "As Seen On TV!" logo.
About 15 years ago you could get "robots" that were EXACTLY the same as this - all they've done is stuck a few bits of Velcro on the bottom! Great injection moulded case too - very faux-sophisticated.
I think my childhood toy cost about $10...
sig:- (wit >= sarcasm)
Slashdotted already. Anyone wants to get a mirror up?
be kind on the robots, one day they will be your master.
The site was incredibly slow with no comments, so I figured I'd mirror it for a day here.
:P
Please be nice to it
--
http://nemilar.net - Not your grandmother's soup kitchen
That has to be the saddest attempt at making a competing product. It uses nothing besides some gears to move around obstacles (no circuitry), uses wipes to clean floor (which don't work well according to website author, says it barely picks up dirt and it only does on the front of wipe), moves slowly, and obviously can't clean anything besides smooth surfaces. Is there a lamest products ever list? This really deserves it.
Question everything.
I remember when I was a kid I had a number of battery powered cars which worked on a similar system, so that when they crashed into the kitchen cabinets (they wouldnt run on carpet only hard floors) they would change direction. I bet my dad still has them in his loft.... ahh memories.
Remember to put the junk mail in front of the robot chute so that you get the babel fish, though.
Well if you can't read the article, it basically says this robosweep thing is a piece of crap. It contains no electronics other then its motor (which apparently has barely enough power to drive the thing) and it works by mechanically shifting gears when it hits a wall so that it can turn. This in an of itself is not so terrible, but according the article the "robot" also doesn't have enough ground clearence for dirt to pass underneath so instead of actually picking up dirt it just pushes it around.
Btw, if you take a look at the link to the ad you'll see some kind of dislcaimer at the bottom explaining how the Roomba is a registered trademark of iRobot and that the RoboSweep thing is not made or endorsed by iRobot. I though this was interesting since no where on thir page do they mention the Roomba except for in this disclaimer. I guess their product is so terrible they afraid of being accused of trying to make iRobot look bad.
I wonder if the guy who designed that was a shyster or just an old-timer engineer who actually throught he could replace the ai with a differential...
"RoboSweep uses artificial intelligence to sweep your entire floor."
yes. yes it does.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
I overclocked it and now it can clean my whole apartment in under 15 seconds. Of course I have to liquid cool it to keep the motors from melting.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
http://www.roombacommunity.com/forum/viewtopic.php ?t=24
Has anyone ever actually expected quality out of a product that has a "As Seen On TV!" sticker on it?
Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
Are you stupid? RTFA. It explains everything.
Moron.
Wait a sec...roomba "community"?
I thought the idea was to give you more free time to do fun things. It's pretty sad these people are using that time to sit around in front of the computer and participate in some...pointless...foru...
[marblehead moment]
Ahhhh nuts.
PS:Obligatory slashdotting joke! That community site clogged up faster than a roomba in the wrong part of Dustbunnyville.
Please help metamoderate.
A perfect way to draw comparisons to a competitors obviously? better product while making no false claims or real comparisons - though the artificial intellegence is stretching it a bit. I would have called it 'artifical artifical intellegence'.
When is someone going to make a lego version of the Roomba, and open source the plans? ;)
The Roomba isn't very good. We have one in the Team Overbot shop, and it's cute, but not very useful. It gets trapped in chair legs, it jams badly if it encounters a cable, and it doesn't clean very well. Even as insect-level intelligence, it's disappointing. It needs at least enough smarts to get itself out of the situations it gets into. As it is, it takes more time dealing with its problems than it takes to vacuum the space with a conventional vacuum.
so I assume the robosweep, if it got to some stairs, would fall down them unlike the roomba which will stop and turn around. That would be pretty funny t watch and seeing how it's built it would probably break apart then too.
at least they do what they are designed to do!
If I drive fast enough at the red light, it'll appear green.
This thing would probably make life unbearable with the noise of the vacuum sucking up the dirt on the ground.
Why do I get the idea that I would end up just watching this thing clean my floor instead of enjoying my life. It would seem to me that getting off my lazy bottom and cleaning the floor myself would be a better way to appreciate the fact that I can move around than whatever it is these people think I should be doing.
Also, if this thing takes away all the crumbs and skin that accumulate on the floor - which in turn provide nourishment for a multitude of life - wouldn't this machine be destroying the very life you are trying to enjoy? ;)
http://suspended.net/robosweep/robosweep.html One of the images is missing, but better than nothing...
Score -1 : fucktard 100%
The thing is only 40 bucks for god's sake!
Got something better/cheaper for lazy people?
This will beat the FloorSweeper like a red-headed stepchild. Shizzle me Timbers!.
I dunno if it's a chain or my local mall is just 'lucky', but we have a store called "As Seen On TV" full of all the crap that by all rights shouldn't sell to anyone with sufficient IQ to navigate from their couch to the mall.
How can it vacuum corners and edges? Those will end up having to be done manually. Especially corners.
eh..eh?
Anyone else reminded of the Precious Roy sketches from "Sifl and Olly" ?
Precious Roy, Precious Roy
Making lots of suckers out of girls and boys!
Suckers!
Sometimes i wonder if not taking part in mass consumer scams makes me a good person or just really really stupid - i should be making inferior products damnit!!
btw that was the slashdotting record, i tried it at 3 comments and it was already down! thanks all the people that mirrored it:)
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Can we? Huh?
--
# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
RTFFAQ.
Are the makers of RoboCrap/Sweep going to sue under the DCMA, claiming that this dude reverse engineered the robot?
Replacing the NiCad batteries with LiIon would up the run time significantly.
Turning your kitchen floor into a maze of diverters so that it cleans the entire floor (instead of just the edges) would be a worthy weekend project.
A simple IR emitter-detector could cut power to the motor when something is in front of it.
Or, you could put an old i386 motherboard and wireless ethernet inside, and have a firewall and clean floors at the same time.
You could slam it, and have a low-rider cleaner. Wait, they already did that.
die now
I was at a lecture Rodney Brooks gave when he was in Amsterdam almost a year ago. He explained what kind of research he did, and how he incorporated it in his Roomba product.
;-)
Obviously, this RoboSweep thing is a complete fake. It looks like it's advertised on those stupid home shopping programmes (see the official website, the "As Seen On TV" blurb on the packaging, etc).
This leads me to reinforce my suspicion that all products promoted at home shopping programmes are fake and ineffective.
I don't doubt most Slashdotters are like-minded in this respect, but those who know people who order that crap, might want to tell them about the fake cleaning machine, and how that is probably only the tip of the iceberg (crap-berg?).
It actually reminds me of a toy car I used to play with in my youth, that had exactly such a rotating thing with small wheels on it, so the battery-powered car seemed to move in a semi-random fashion. I didn't find that very intruiging even at the age of five.
If you really want to get a cleaning robot, get a Roomba.
With a bit of luck, they'll sell just eight of those RoboSweeps -- to Dr. Zoidberg!
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
We need to have all the unhappy customers send in their "robots" to one of the fighting robot shows and they could compete over who can kill the most of these things in under 5 minites.
Beware of gifts bearing Greeks.
It both sucks and blows.
All you have to do is program it to say "What?", "I don't understand," and "Where's the tea?" and who'd know the difference?
http://trilobite.electrolux.com/ now -that- looks like something you could install linux on!
~
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-- INSERT --
Just curious... I'd like to hear opinions from people who aren't on Roomba's website.
Before I buy one, I want to know if it will keep up with my two-year old. I envision some kind of evolutionary arms race between my daughter and the Roomba, where the Roomba gets smarter and bigger and my daughter finds new and messier ways to screw up the living room carpet.
Eventually the Roomba will evolve into SkyNet and a former California governor will travel back in time to shoot me.
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
What's the point of this overpriced monstrosity when I can just a hire a cheap illegal mexican immigrant to vacuum my carpets for $3 an hour and if he gets hurt I can just call the cops and have him deported, no messy lawsuits...
Ya right, why pay for an overpriced robot when human labor is so damn cheap! Yay capitalism!
This totally reminds me of the Tomy Robot Dustbot that I had when I was a kid. And to think, that technology existed in the 80's
This is really nothing more than a "Bump n' Go" toy with a wiper on the bottom.
It really should retail for around $5.00
There is NO "vacuum" action, that's why it's only called a Robo"SWEEPER"
Move along now, this is not the Robovac you are looking for.....
Um... does anyone else feel a bit confused, dare I say scared, by a music-playing vacuum cleaner?
Dunno... maybe it's just me.
Shares in As Seen On TV fell $12.37 to $1.12 as investors reacted to a poll showing that every American over the age of 18 has been screwed over at least once by idiotic late-night TV pitches, according to an Ipsos-Reid survey.
Including the investors.
Only 10% of the populace is reported to be stupid enough to purchase off of TV again. Strangely, most of the 10% is made up of Americans with double barreled names, such as Peggy-Anne, Donny-Joe or Birdman-Sue.
Cledus the Slack-Jawed Yokel was not available for comment.
Years ago I purchased a kitchen gadget that slices and dices vegetables. It's especially good for onions and ten years later, I still use it when I have to dice four large onions for a batch of jambalaya. It cuts the time by a factor of at least four and results in no onion tears. It's cheap, shoddy, but still works fine probably ten years later.
So, yes, I have purchased something from an infomercial and been happy with it. I've never purchased anything else though and may never because the vast majority of it is complete, unadulterated junk. The thing you have to ask yourself: If the item I am seeing was made with the cheapest, shoddiest materials and labor available, would it be useful? If the answer is "yes", then you may have a winner.
This is unbelievable, you mean to tell me that there are people out there that would pay hundreds of dollars for a vacuum cleaner that vacuums by itself? Once again another way to prove how lazy some people can be. /. article a few weeks ago about a voice activated televison set.....Now all we need is this vacuum, a shitter built into the recliner, and a voice activated stove on wheels and we'll never have to get up.
I seem to remember a
What is the world coming too.............
HaHaHaHaHa
After seeing the pictures of RoboSweep, I was curious how well Roomba (the original product) performed. Here's a review
forget paying $39.95, I just want the Free Batteries!
if you go here you can click on the link on the bottom and talk to someone on the phone.
we should all contact customer service and ask for our FREE BATTERIES!
"-- You see! They managed to build a sweeping robot with pure analog parts! Motor and switches!
We, on the other hand, found an engenious way to emulate those functions with sophisticated CPU, that costs more than TWO of those pesky sweepers!"
Hm...
Hyperom.com
robots.txt keeps the spiders away
-Docvert converts MSWord to OpenDocument, clean HTML
Maybe they'll recall these things because they "forgot" to put in its "intelligence."
A couple of meetings ago, the Atlanta Hobby Robot Club had the opportunity to admire the intricate inner workings of this vacuum cleaner. We decided the company that sells it needs some advice - drop the price to $9.99 and pray very, very hard.
I have an automatic kitchen floor cleaner than never misses even the tiniest crumb! ...AND it plays fetch!
But even 1950s tech was ahead of the Robosweep. It did have a single light sensor, and through some clever work by Davis, could be constructed so that when their batteries started to run low, would make their way back to a recharging hut, given that the hut had a bright light in it.
If the robosweep could accomplish as much without any central processor (lack of central processing is, after all, one of the tenets of Brooks subsumption architecture, and thus part of the design of the Roomba), I'm sure Rodney would applaud the feat.
Why was this moderated as Flaimebait?
Just because his political wievs are a bit to the right I don't think he was "baiting"
So moderators, please grow up and moderate on arguments, not political wievs.
No longer do you have to manual sweep your floor, nor do you have to get big and fat for laying on your ass for letting a robot do it.
The Get Your Ass In Gear disto of Linux is for you!
Simple modification of this sweeper robot, adding lcd screen means you need to chase your terminal around the house to check your e-mail, peform daily tasks, and you'll be in shape in no time.
The Future Is Here, not there!
We bought a bunch of these Miracle Blade 3 things... damn these suckers are sharp (and stay sharp, great for tough steak/cinderblocks), if you can help me find my left index finger that would help though. Very happy with the set, we even got a second one for free accidently.
In addition to being poorly engineered, they are also spamvertised rather heavily - I think I got three or four spams proclaiming I'd won a free RoboSweep just today.
Yet another reason to avoid them.
www.eFax.com are spammers
- battery compartment
- wires
- one red LED
- one switch
To play, you would wind it up and a spring would drive plastic gears that would move the "ball" back and forth. It didn't really matter whether it was "turned on" or not since the switch just lit the LED.Yeah, digital -- either meaning that you had one digital bit (the LED could be on or off) -- or meaning that you play it with your fingers which are also known as "digits".
My spam bucket is filling up with swill advertising these things. It's nice to know they are worthless without ever having to do the experiment of buying one. Not that I was in danger. I will never do business with anyone who is employed spam, unless I'm going to suffer, a lot, by not doing so.
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
we sent out 5 of these guys last week.
1st got ran over by an SUV, them sons of bitches
2nd batteries ran out
3rd ran into bad weather
4th one was lost
5th one is still going strong, it things go well we hope it will make it to the end of the block by tomorrow.
* it has no idea where it is. It might vacuum the same spot 5 times and never hit the other half of the room or hallway.
* the 'algorithm' to find a big spiral to vac is pretty stupid. Basically it just bounces around in random patterns, trying to fit a big spiral into it.
* it seems like it wouldn't have been hard to make it find a charger and dock over a charging paddle. Here come the trolls^Hposts to refute this, but it turns it into little more than a child's toy.
Sure, it's only $200, but it wouldn't replace your normal vac.
I had toy cars as a kid that did this. It'd roll untill it hit something then turn and roll again. I had no idea that I was using state of the art artificial intelligence way back then! Wow!
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
that if all products like RoboSweep, Tap lights, Thigh Masters, electronic inset repellers, Clappers, Buttoneers, Mr. Microphones, OxyClean, Ginsu Knives, and anything else that's advertized on TV after 2 a.m. were assembled into ONE GIANT MACHINE we would have... either a black hole that only sucks in money or the first device suitable for sanctioning spammers. Spammers mercilessly tortured while you rest! Sound effects optional...Canadians add one dollar!
Yeah, it's pretty good. Mashes things up like a bad mofo.
well, that roombacommunity site rocks, while i do enjoy my roomba, it's now going to be made in to a robot and do something else, i'm thinking a wifi-finder, we'll see. here are some pics and vid, next time i post pics, it'll be a franken-roomba. enjoy.
pics
video
cheers,
pt
Pics here. It's kind of slow. Being slashdotted is not a good way to discover that your ISP does bandwidth limiting :-(.
Once the vacuuming brushes are removed the Roomba is much quieter and I am sure that battery life at least doubles. Chris.
Heres some more pics of the "Hacked Roomba using a Parallax Javelin Stamp to replace the microcontroller."
moo.
It both sucks and blows.
If you'd have bothered to read the article, you'd see it neither sucks nor blows.
I love my roomba, it's so quiet I can even work on Photoshop on my PowerBook and I've never had to get it unstuck. I think it's even smarter than my cat, Steve. I suppose PC users might like this vaccuum.
Doing a quick eBay search for "robosweep" returns a few listings saying: "ROOMBA ROBOSWEEP INTELLIGENT SWEEPER"
;)
Very very deceptive.....
And look at the crap description.... I almost fell off my chair laughing....
*Similar to Roomba but at a fraction of the price!
RoboSweep is a very affordably priced sweeper, especially compared to other robotic cleaners on the market..
RoboSweep uses built-in intellegence to stay in the room it's sweeping. Just turn it on and it sweeps! (Ya... sweeps your $40 away...)
Of course, at the end:
THIS IS NOT A ROOMBA! IT IS A ROBOSWEEP!
Just when I thought things were bad enough.... more searching finds some place is selling this thing for $46!!
Caveat emptor! A fool and his money are sooooo soon parted on the Internet
What, are those sweaters sold at an anti-NAFTA rally?
That jerk stole my little brothers science project! Even though he only spent 5 minutes on it, he could atleast get a D+, give it back!
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
Just google "robosweep" and observe the results...
I have one of those things. I also have a real grill out on my deck. I've used the Georde foreman thing three times in two years. Everytime I've been disappointed. The food is faster, but has no flavor. When I go outside it doesn't take much longer, and the food tastes better, and there is no cleanup.
I know many of you live in apartments where you can't have a grill on your deck. However if you have the option get a real outdoor grill instead you will be much happier.
P.S. A real grill is worth spending a little money on. Everyone I know who has not bought a Weber has been disapointed in 5 years, those who spent extra on the Weber are happy many years latter. Not the Weber is the only good brand, there are others, but Weber has the name and it works. (Some of the others are appearently better quality for less price, but who knows if they are good or another cheap one?)
That has to be the saddest attempt at making a competing product. It uses nothing besides some gears to move around obstacles (no circuitry), uses wipes to clean floor (which don't work well according to website author, says it barely picks up dirt and it only does on the front of wipe), moves slowly, and obviously can't clean anything besides smooth surfaces. Is there a lamest products ever list? This really deserves it.
The thing that gives me pause is that something like this could actually work, if you tweak the undercarriage to solve the "pushing dust in front" problem.
Will it clean an area as quickly as an intelligent, microprocessor-driven cleaning robot? Of course not.
What it _will_ do is random-walk all over my kitchen sweeping up dust overnight. At that price, it might even be worth it (as long as the batteries hold out; kitbashing a gel cell into it might be worthwhile).
Just because a design's simple doesn't mean it's worthless. An inefficient but cheap solution has its place.
http://www.youcansave.com/robosweep.asp
The Easy, and Intelligent
Way to Sweep Your Floors!
Wouldn't it be nice to relax and read a book, or drink some coffee, as somebody else swept your floors? Now you can! That "somebody else" is an intelligent robot named RoboSweep!
RoboSweep uses artificial intelligence to sweep your entire floor. It won't miss an inch of your wood, linoleum, or tile! It will sweep and lift up anything from pet hair, dust and ashes, to paper and rubber! No more backaches, dusty brooms or sweat!
---
Wow. Just WOW. I knew that infomercials were 90% false advertising, but this! Who wants to buy one and sue the manufacturer off the face of the planet for fraudulent claims?
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Hopefully, it won't replace me as a super rugmuncher!
I'm not sure what situation you were trying it in, but from experience the Roomba usually does not miss much. Repetition is good as the one weakness of the Roomba is just that - weakness, in vacuuming power. Perhaps you had the wrong room size selected?
I also appreciate the sensor that keeps it from falling down stairs. They didn't have to do that and could have sold more "virtual walls" but happily it's pretty bulletproof.
You might not think much of the spiral approach but really I think it's about the best way to approach vacuuming a carpet. I don't know if you noticed but on any kind of rug wheeled vehicles often drift quite a bit (true of the Big Track of old too), so doing a end to end sweep of a room will not work well and will miss strips of carpet which is a lot more annoying than a few spots that will get hit on a run a day or two later.
Until they really get the whole robotic vision thing down pat, the Roomba does pretty well for being as blind as it is.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Where did this phrase came from? I read it many times here.
-
For years women have used vibrators, threatening to replace men with their battery powered buddies. Now we've fought back. Between robots that clean everthing, archived internet pronz, and cloning, who needs 'em?
woman that nag and complain
old and busted
robots that do the housework
the new hotness.
and see if they complain about a toilet seat left up.
Screw the Roomba and RoboSweep, now here is the ultimate geek robot vacuum.
A floor washing option. Vacuuming it fine for living room, bedroom and office, but what about the kitchen floor which gets sticky, rather than dusty?
Say no to software patents.
The RoboSweep people should be hauled in for fraud! ;-)
I saw the pictures of its insides... and basically (from a long childhood of disassembling toy "bump n go" robots) I believe the RoboSweep is worth about $5 bucks, tops.
Do this:
1. Go into your local KayBee or Toys R Us toystore or swapmeet/fleamarket.
2. Buy one of those $5 buck "bump n go" robots/cars.
3. Dissassemble said toy
4. Note the virtually identical setup as the "RoboSweep": battery case, wires, one made-in-China 25 cent motor, little go-round-n-round wheels.
And reading the RoboSweep site http://www.youcansave.com/robosweep.asp, it promises the world out of what is basically a child's cheap-ass toy! Class action anyone?
This is what our tax dollars go toward.
The Viet Cong would have had them modified to serve
after-dinner drinks in an hour...
There is a small plastic gearbox that works a bit like the differential in a car. If the robot is on the ground then the gearbox turns the little wheels and the robot moves forward. When the robot gets stuck the force of the motor has to go somewhere and the gearbox 'slips' and rotates the turret instead (until the wheels start moving again).
I had battery operated toy cars tenty years ago that worked like that! They'd drive around the room, automatically changing direction whenever they hit an obstacle.
a beowulf of these??
I really don't understand the gap-jawed complaints some people are expressing. Its a fourty dollar device compared to a TWO HUNDRED dollar device. Please, lets not act too surprised.
:)
This all reminds me of the DustBuster craze in the 80s. They all plainly sucked, or failed to suck dirt, yet they sold by the millions. Even the heavy-duty Black & Deckers did little then make an annoying whine and create a weird smell.
Today, the DustBuster market is more or less dead and the ones that have survived are at Target, are a slightly more costly, are larger than the originals, and have tons more sucking power. I'm willing to bet these actually work. It took 20 years but black & decker did it
Will it take another 20 years to perfect the Roomba? Its not all raves you know. It easily gets confused when encountering wiring and cramped spaces, you know the traditional shelters of geeks worldwide.
Another thing to consider is the law of diminishing returns. $200 is a lot of money for most people and if this RobotVac works half as well it will undercut the Roomba in marketshare.
Yes, its cheesy and a cheap knock-off but then again so are most components in the PCs people are using to view this message.
No idea, but you can expect to see it on Robot Wars next week..
Well, the link that you gave shows that is is availaible...so least you can so is see the link before posting it.
What's under yellowstone?
You vacuum your house once a MONTH? If I tried that, I would be knee deep in dirt.
Hmmm... sounds like something that could be fixed with a pill or two. Checked the ol' spam latelh?
Ass eeno ntv? Ha!
Trilobyte. European tech kicks ass. Harharhar! :-)
Honestly now: If I'll ever get a vacuumbot it will be this one. This Trilobyte sucker has some serious tech inside. It actually learns the shapes of the floor it cleans and maneuvers through and past furniture. It starts at programmable time (when you're out of the house) and goes back to it's recharge station when finished. THAT is a vacubot. That other one is a toy that will chrush to chunky kibbles if I accidentally step on it. Or make that 'on purpose'.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I've had a Roomba since last November. Although it's "AI" software *could* use some refinement, look what it's got for a brain: it's a puny little PIC18-series microcontroller! 8K of program space or something like that! 256 bytes of RAM?
The main problem I have with the Roomba is that the wife won't use it when she's home because it's noisy, and she doesn't like me to move certian furniture items out of the way to facilitate cleaning (I move those same pieces when manually sweeping). So the only time that Roomba gets to play are my off Fridays (every other week) or evenings when the wife isn't home.
Sporadic use means that the cat hair accumulates to Roomba-choking volumes. Roomba is definitely a maintenance machine, not a floor scrubber. It does, given its limitations, do a marvelous job. It's more thorough than manually sweeping our wood floors. I've been very happy with my Roomba.
What is this vacuum thing?
I thought homes were like car ashtrays, when they get full of dirt, it's time to buy another.
First, the "Yes:" Oxy-clean kicks ass. At least on food/drink stains (anything organic). But they're selling the stuff at Wal-mart now so it's pretty much in wide distribution.
Then, the "No:" Roll-A-Hose sucks ass. In theory, it's a great design, and when you roll it back up it's supposed to squeeze the water out, but the rollers aren't tight enough to get ALL the water out so it turns out to be rather difficult to get the entire hose back onto the spool. And the hose kinks very easily because it's so flexible (please refrain from viagra jokes). They also sell this at various stores.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
hope it does not end up with something like:
"RoboSleep" - "The intelligent sleeper that sleeps while you rest!"
After another minute I was so bored that I picked it up to see what it had done... the wipe was completely clean but it was starting to push dirt in front of it. The ground clearance is so low that the dirt can't go under it to reach the wipe!
Only a geek would have such a filthy apartment that they would resort to technology to clean it. A mop and bucket is just so yesterday...
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
http://shop.infomercial.tv/home_and_garden/misc/ro bosweep/ - I see no disclaimer there.
The other links are on... www.roombacommunity.com, which has that disclaimer at the bottom of EVERY PAGE - It's a site dedicated to the Roomba that happened to take a look at a "competitor". So no surprise that the disclaimer is there, especially once you notice that the site has it on every single page.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Roomba Wars Part 1
Once I get a couple of these Roomba Clones I'll have a good army for part two - Attack of the Clones. Let the carnage (and cleaning) begin!
Just proves that iRobot really did accomplish something with the Roomba. I can't wait to see what they cook up next. You know, if you take the cover off the chasis of the RoboSweep and put a toy car body on it, you end up with one of those cars that bounces of walls and then keeps going, but then who would pay $40 for it? If you're into Robots, you should check out http://www.aibohack.com/
Using HTML in email is like putting sound effects on your phone calls. Just say <strong>no</strong>.
Coming in a day late (well, almost) and a dollar short:
Heh, from an "A-life" perspective, RoboSweep is almost interesting. Roomba uses (I would guess) something akin to real AI, where as RoboSweep--at best--has the same kind of "strucutral intelligence" that insects and the like have evolved. It's surprising some of the task-specific intelligence you can demonstrate even without a brain if your physical structures and reflexes are good enough.
"As seen on TV" can really run the spectrum of total crap to great products. My Aunt and Uncle love their showtime rotisserie oven. It really lives up to its promises. But you should probably beware any product marketed as "just like the expensive one, but much cheaper!"--the laws of getting more or less what you're paying for still apply.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
My wife and I both work and my dog sheds, this leaves both very little time for the vacuming and a very large need for vacuming. We struggled with the $200 purchase for about 6 months, but have not regretted it for 1 second since laying down the money. (Check techbargains.com, you can find it for $160 delievered).
The roomba is right for us because we always found the vacume to be a chore. If you don't feel the same way, you probably don't need a roomba. As far as performance goes, every time the thing runs it fills it's little bin. The amount of dust that it picks up is remarkable. It can easily go under our bed, when was the last time you vacumed under the bed? I totally agree with one review I found that said the fact that you have to empty the little bin is (accidental?) marketing genius. Every time we use it we are encouraged to use it again, and soon!
It doesn't do stairs, doesn't handle the corners of some throw rugs well, and doesn't handle shag at all. We have to pick up the clothes/objects/garbage before using it (the horror). I really haven't found much to be upset about.
I put it in the iPod, VW Beetle, iMac, and Tivo category. It does something well, it's not perfect, but it's really cool. I didn't think I'd ever feel this way about a vacume.
"Awww look, its trying to sweep up the ***SMASH***.......oh....
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Hey, don't look at me. I voted for Roommatic.
Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
The Roomba costs $199.
This thing is $40.
At what point does common sense kick in with you folks? This obviously does not compete on features or price. It's just a cheap knock-off. The fact that everyone's making fun of something that's so obviously SUPPOSED to be a cheap little piece of shit that costs $39.95 is testament to the retardedness of slashdot.
Tune in next week, when slashdot figures out that a Yugo doesn't compete with a Mercedes S-class.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I don't have a copy in front of me, but it reminds me of something from Childhood's End.
It was the Newscaster that said that!
I find the best way to clean one of these is not to wash it, but instead:
Obviously, for any readers in litigious USA, I mean this only for GF grill users who have successfully gained a certificate in GF grill-cleaning from a suitably qualified training provider. This method is not to be used by uncertified GF grill cleaners, except wholly at their own risk.
FWIW, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke is a good read, overlords and all.