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.

Comments

Please stop building robots!

[Anonymous Coward]

First they're cleaning carpets of dirt, next they'll be cleaning Earth of humans!

Re:Please stop building robots!

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, welcome our new vacuum cleaner overlords.

seems like an easy project

[onya]

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?

Re:seems like an easy project

[EinarH]

soo... who's going to be the first to get linux running on it?

For all that we know it could allready be running Linux.

iRobot also makes the PackBot, a unmanned robust robot for reconnaissance operations in urban terrain.
The robot is developed for the US Military, its DARPA founded, and it runs Linux.

More info here

Through the Tactical Mobile Robotics Program (TMR), the PackBot mobile robot got a new rugged hardware housing that supported significantly more substantial electronics. In fact, the new processor and motherboard booted a Linux kernel in under 12 seconds - just turn on and go! With such substantial computing on-board, the first robot operating system AWARE(TM) was born.

Personally I find this far more interesting than this "sweeper".

Case modding, anyone?

[ps_inkling]

With so much empty space, this device is crying out for accessories. Add a squirt bottle and aquarium pump, and it's an automatic wet floor cleaner (like the Swiffer family). Since it only works on flat surfaces, this could make it useful.

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.

Re:You brought it on yourself

[Synithium]

George Forman grill. Bought it off TV way before it was in the stores. And you know what? It still kicks ass like a prize fighter.

Thank you George!

Has anyone actually used a roomba?

[Guano_Jim]

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.