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The Geek Toy Vacuum Cleaner
TheDarkpoint sent us a new device sure to be on all neat-nik geek Christmas lists. It's an automatic vacuum cleaner. Cool little device and the polite gift for those who just aren't quite up to clean-snuff.
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Yeah. It sucks.
Now we just need to modify it to
a) automatically return to a charging station when its batteries get low
b) empty itself when it fills with dirt
That's about the only way I'll ever keep my carpet clean all the time
'I ain't a liar, baby, and I ain't proud I just want what I'm not allowed.' -- Violent Femmes, 36-24-36
Wow... never saw that coming...
Do we really want everything hooked up to the internet? At school, for our senior engineering project many people are doing internet technologies where they connect applicances to the internet. Nothing here is really innovative. It mostly consists of them arranging sensors of some sort on the device and then using a laptop to monitor it. Of course they try to use wireless technology - cell phone modem, or wireless lan to get it to a central computer that is hooked to the internet.
I'm sure someone is going to hook a toilet to the internet sometime soon...then it will run linux, of course, and count how many flushes, and how big the 'load' is....
I met the inventor, James Dyson, earlier this year; he's quite a cult figure in the UK having re-invented the vacumn cleaner (by removing the bag, and using an internal vortex for suction.)
anyhow, he's a major engineering guy, and is trying to spearhead a movement to bring engineering and design back into schools.
he's a top man...check out here
If my room is typical of the geek room, the thing better be all terrain!!
(Side note: would a better geek gift be Lego Mindstorms so we can create our very own intelligent, robotic vacuum cleaner?)
Dana
Scope it out... they have a patent pending on their "spiral cleaning path." Sorry dudes, but I think this is yet another stupid patent idea. Patently obvious and been done before.
I didn't read everypage of the website because the thing is kinda slow loading, being slashdotted and all, but what about vacuuming under couches and tables and stuff? It seems to me this is limited to wide open relatively uncluttered spaces, besides am I the only one that things us humans need to quit finding ways to sit on our kiesters all day and let machines do the work for us? I mean vacuuming isn't that bad. Unless you have a really big house, but that why you have an upstairs maid and a downstairs maid
Someone else mentioned (the first post actually, imagine that a useful first post) that this was just a rip off of the robotic lawn mower, now there is a good idea, we have 10 acres of land that can be a real pain to mow, by the time you are done it is time to start over again, it would be nice to just have a continous running bot. Of course them cityfied people with a half an acre don't really need it, but considering I've seen some of them with riding lawnmowers they would probably get it anyhow
Oh well, I guess soon we will have devices that breath for us. *sigh*
If it can pick up microwave red baron pizzas that have been ingrained into the floor, determine which of my multitude of mtn. dew cans are full, empty, or "flat", and figure out which printouts I want to save and which ones I want to discard... I won't just buy it, I'll *marry* it.
I saw a similar device demonstrated on Japanese TV the other day, except that it could automatically return to its charging station when it was finished vacuuming.
How about a solar lawn mower instead? I saw one of these in action a couple of years ago. They're pretty cool, they use buried wire to mark the border of the yard, and they just roam freely, constantly cutting grass. And they set off an alarm if someone tries to haul it away without punching in a password.
Photos of bits of the past hiding in the present: afiler.com
Well, so much for my plan of building an automatic vaccum cleaner out of lego mindstorms.
I guess I'll just have to move on to building that automatic lawnmower....
-Denor
At the risk of starting (or contributing to) an OT flamewar...
The use of Xmas in this context is a nice shorthand for "in the spirit of giving and sharing that is common to many faiths at this time of year". My wife got into a painful discussion of this sort a few days ago at work. She and I are of, shall we say, a religious belief that isn't mainstream. Yet we celebrate Christmas, because we have friends and family who do, and we enjoy giving them presents and being part of their celebrations. Our religion celebrates Yule. The presents we happen to give each other are Yule presents, but they're part of our "Christmas shopping". Not holiday shopping, as most of it is for people who celebrate Christmas, and "holiday shopping" smacks way too much of political correctness for our tastes.
The aforementioned painful discussion was with a cow-orker who doesn't think that someone of alternative beliefs should celebrate Christmas. And more's the pity. Such thought hides the true message of this season, which is that it's time for friends and family to get together and give gifts, most importantly those gifts which can't be packaged in a cardboard box with wrapping paper.
So don't get bent out of shape over the use of "Christmas". If the sacred holiday of Christmas isn't part of your belief system, then insert whatever celebration is appropriate for you. (Especially for those of you who don't get a day off on or around 25 Dec., and therefore don't like thinking of it as "the holiday season".)
We can believe in you for 3 minutes, but beyond that, even the King of All Cosmos can't be expected to wait.
The scene... I have left for vacation. I set up crontab entries in a control computer to activate the robot periodically while I'm gone. Little did I know, I had left computer parts scattered around on the floor. Come on guys. Sounds like this item would be a good idea in theory for a geek present. However, considering how many geeks (myself included) have a habit of leaving computers in various states of disassembley all over the place, somehow I doubt it would be a good idea to turn a non-intelligent vacuuming robot loose in a geek's room.
Episode IV
A New Troll
It is a period of civil war on slashdot. Striking from a hidden base, the trolls have won their first victory against the evil galactic moderators.
During the battle, troll spies managed to steal secret plans to the moderator's ultimate weapon, the post vacuum, an open sourced virtual vacuum cleaner with an enough power to suck up an entire thread of trolls.
Pursued by the moderator's sinister agents, open source man races to create another off-topic thread to expose the moderator's plans and restore freedom to slashdot...
thank you.
does anybody have a clue to how these new "SR" motors are supposed to work?
SR Motor = Switched Reluctance motor
Let's see here..
Quick search found this site:
http://www.vtt.fi/aut/kau/results/srm/
There's even a few GIF animations to show how it works.
---
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
[OFFTOPIC]
Hey! *THIS* is the guy who's been posting all those stupid natalie portman comments as an anonymous coward! The username, the hatred for moderators, the lowercase "thank you" at the bottom, it all fits. We have you now, fool.
JD
the Honeymoon Extention Pack!
This sig is false.
I own a Dyson vacuum cleaner (DC03) and it does a wonderful job.
Dyson has really shaken up the UK manufacturing establishment; and done it in a very engineering-oriented way. All credit to him.
Its easy to get carried away when we hear about so many really stupid patents, but Dyson risked an awful lot to build his company; it got its start from his exploitation of the Dual Cyclone technique.
Perhaps we should make a distinction between software patents (stupid), biotech (dangerous) and the more traditional physical invention types that have (generally) served us very well.
C-x C-s
I have an ordinary upright non-robotic Dyson vacuum cleaner.
The body of the cleaner, where you might expect the bag to be, is a big transparent plastic cylinder with another cylinder inside it. There are a couple of downwards pointing cone shaped thingies that fit inside the tops of the cylinders.
The air swirls around and around the cones until the dirt gets dizzy and drops to the bottom. Because the bin is transparent you can see how full it is, or if you've accidentally picked up anything that you shouldn't have (coins, pets, etc.)
The absolute best thing about it is that it even sorts your dirt out for you. Big dirt in the outside bin and fine dust in the middle. I don't know why but this pleases me immensely.
Deefer said:
>plus I think it's waterproof... Handy for
>all those red wine spills!
Unfortunately not. The instruction book specifically warns you not to try to pick up damp stuff. I don't know why, perhaps it would be hard to get the damp dust-sludge out of the bin.
Molly.
More importantly, how long before some enterprising cracker attempts to hack these things? In the future, when little robot vacuum cleaners become common and can sense when the floor is dirty and needs to be cleaned, will I see articles like the following:
--
NEW YORK (AP) -- In what authorities are calling "the worst attack by pro-clutter hackers yet," thousands of Dyson DC17 robot vacuum cleaners burned out today when a swarm of dirt-dumping robots was released into the city. The dirtbots, as the FBI is calling them, invaded homes and left trails of dirt across carpets. While the DC17s attempted to vacuum up the dirt, the dirtbots continued making tracks until the DC17s lost power or their motors burnt out....
--
Alternatively, given their Mood indicator light (patent pending), will these be to the next decade what mood rings were to the 70's?
Sargent
It has nothing to do with Christianity.
This sig is false.
Why does the thought of my vacuum cleaner feeling "distressed or threatened" amuse me?
These things seem about perfect for commercial cleaning applications.(No steps, no stairs, vast open areas) Instead of paying three guys minimum wage and getting spotty results, buy four of these things. Even if they are US $4000, you'd make back your initial investment in five months!!
I wonder if they'd take care of the staple collection I have under my desk?
.sig: Now legally binding!
Amen.
Possibly worse is the fact that on the same page they say they've got a patent pending on the idea of a light which changes color to indicate the robot's operating mode.
Maybe this is only ludicrous to me because I've dabbled in robotics, but think about it... You have software which runs in one of a few modes and runs on a machine with no output. So, you hook up a mode indicator. It's for debugging, not for indicating any sort of emotion. Come on - navigating around a chair is a mood?
I figure it started out as a debugging tool and some marketing moron thought it was cool... "No, no... not a mode indicator... a MOOD indicator!"
/* The beatings will continue until morale improves. */
My dad, meanwhile, had been born jewish (in germany, raised from the age of 13 in a jewish orphanage here in San Francisco) but agreed to let the kids be raised catholic (etc.) and to go to mass. He slept; we nudged him when he started to snore too loudly. Now, he is in a nursing home, the Jewish Home for the Aged. We have to remind him that he's buying chanukkah gifts for the kids, not christmas gifts.
Now I am antagotheistic. (Mostly athiest, but I sincerely hope there is a god so I can beat the living shit out of him.) My wife is more agnostic/athiestic. We mostly celebrate the solstice, but have a christmas tree and give christmas gifts, and so on.) When someone says "Merry Christmas" to us, we say thanks and offer the same to them.
As far as I'm concerned, the christians commandeered the pagan solstice holidays, so there is no reason I can't commandeer christmas for my own use. Turnabout is fair play. Also, I'm far too lazy to explain to people that I don't believe in Christ, so I don't celebrate christmas, etc. That can also lead to having to sit through attempts at being converted, etc. Better just to say Merry Christmas and know in your mind that you really mean May the coming seasons bring you much happiness.
Stupid people will be persecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.
I wanted one then, and I want one now.
If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. A little outdated technology-wise, but still an excellent story with good engineering, time travel, and a cat. What more could you ask for?
Stupid people will be persecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.
She and I are of, shall we say, a religious belief that isn't mainstream. Yet we celebrate Christmas, because we have friends and family who do, and we enjoy giving them presents and being part of their celebrations. Our religion celebrates Yule.
Yer a Wiccan, yippy, just say it, no need to beat around the bush and pretend your ashamed of it... My GF is a Wiccan, I'm a Baptist, point out to your christian Cow-Worker that Christmas was moved to where it is in the calendar precisely to encourage the Pagan populace to celebrate it,and that the Christmas Tree, mistletoe, and Holly are all druidic symbols. Anyone who is worried about celebrating 'Pagan' holidays needs to take a look at some of the bizarre rituals christians have built into their holidays, Easter Eggs (Druidic Fertility ritual), Christmas Trees, all manner of 'Pagan' characteristics.
Kintanon
Merry Fucking Christmas mister Pagan! (Nods to SP and Mr. Garrison)
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
I suggest you go find the most informative post I wrote a bit earlier which explains just how non-christian the holiday really is. Christmas should be for everyone, As far as I know every major religion and most minor ones has a holiday around that time. Christmas is about being good people for once, the way we should be all the time..
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
I don't know if any of you have watched the avi, because you're gonna have a nice clean room, well that is only the middle of the room. The thingy stops about 30cm before any object. Well it's a nice try, but don't get rid of your girlfirend just know ...
:)
Murphy(c)
AugstWest dun said:
Just how the hell does one ork cows, anyways? I've heard of cow-orkers, but I can't imagine what the hell it is...transforming cattle into big green fellas? Goblinising cattle (in the Shadowrun sense) and if so (in the Shadowrun sense) does this mean Shadowrun wendigos (aka vampy-orks) are really man-eating cattle? Getting a bunch of Da Boyz into ranching? Just how the hell does one ork cows?
I think we should be told. Maybe the Grits Boy knows...I sure as hell don't ;)
Never having orked a cow, but having known more than one werecow,
-Windigo The Feral (NYAR!)
It's worse.
It's much worse.
They appear (on the same page) to have applied for a patent on a light that tells how its doing. Nevermind that old mainframes used to have a bunch of those lights (OT: IMO the media wants to bring the blinkenlights back) but also Sony's AIBO flashes different colored lights depending on its mood.
So there. Not that the patent office reads slashdot.
Me, I'm a Zen-Pagan-Taoist-Athiest-Discordian. I'll be visiting my parental units for "Christmas" on the 25th and have my friends from the Circle of Laughing Thunder over for a Yule celebration on the 26th. (That turned out to be the most convenient day for everyone, even though the Solstice and a full moon fall on the 22nd.)
We're completely off-topic, so if anyone want to discuss further e-mail me. (Remove "spambefuddler-" from the address above.) Happy (insert-holiday-here)!
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Aha, a good ol' Google search returned their link: http://www3.electrolux.se/robot/. Apparently, it goes over cables without any trouble. That's impressive.
For other robot vacuums, here's a short list:
I want that Electrolux one, though.
I haven't seen the Dyson one from the article. The site appears to be down hard.
At least the ones typically used in vacuum cleaners do. Series motors start fast and spin fast.
And they probly mean ozone, not carbon.
Both. Brush/commutator motors gradually grind up the graphite brushes. The motor is in the exhaust air path (to cool it while keeping dirt out of it), so the graphite dust tends to be blown out into the room unless caught with an additional filter.
There's not enough to re-dirty your rugs. But graphite dust accumulates in lungs and is bad for them.
It's a very small amount of the dirt your lungs are exposed to. But why let them be exposed to any extra crud at all, now that hall-effect sensors are available to replace brushes? It's a nice selling point.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
The website doesn't seem to mention a price. Anyone in the UK know the going rate?
I want the pet avoidance feature to have programable agressiveness. I need something to terrorize my cats while I'm gone.
I also want to know if it comes with a cow catcher feature so it can collect the legos as it goes (no, not from it's predecessor, but the lego mindfield most parents are familiar with)
I think it would be easy enough to modify it into a Van de Graf generator to charge the outer shell. That would solve the external harassment issues 8^)