[Electronics-Talk] robot vacuums

Fri May 5 01:33:42 UTC 2023

We have a Shark that is self-emptying.  I can't find my notes on it to give
you the model number, but it is just about 2-years old.  Overall I love it,
but recently my daughter noticed that it is leaving marks and dings along
the bottom edges of the couch and on the legs of wooden furniture.  The
iRobot Pet we originally had was much better about not bumping into things
so hard.  The Shark will push shoes, dog food and water dishes and dog toys
all over the house.

In my opinion, robot vacuums may not do a perfect job, but neither do I.  If
you get it set up to automatically run every day, It will make a world of
difference in keeping the floors clean.  If you have pets in the house, it
really is worth having a robot vacuum.

HTH,
Annette

-----Original Message-----
From: Electronics-Talk <electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of
Haylie Gallacher via Electronics-Talk
Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2023 12:48 AM
To: 'Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances'
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Haylie Gallacher <jordanandseptember at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] robot vaccumes

I have a Shark R101A.E.  Don't get it confused with the RV101A.E or the
RV1001A.E. since those are different models.  The R101AE works very well.
It maps the whole home, fits under furniturenicely, and it rarely gets
stuck.  I like it so much that I am after a newer model of it, the 2502AE if
I remember correctly.  There are a couple different models of that one, and
the one I am after has Clean Edge Technology.  It is taller than the R101AE.
So, it will not or is said to not be able to fit under furniture as well.
Lidar is a must in these vacuums at this point, and you will not be happy
with ones that do not have this.  Hence why I am getting a second one.  I
have one from Kyvol, and it works on gyrosensors.  It gets stuck often and
for no reason not to mention errors that it likes popping up on me.  Also,
the Sharks I have mentioned self empty.  So, all you really ever have to do
is keep the base clean and empty.  I do it monthly, but it can be done about
every 60 days.  The Shark Clean app is accessible for the most part except
for the map although it is not as accessible as it was before an update a
few months ago.  I have both Android and iOS, and the app is pretty self
explanatory and easy to use once you are familiar with it.  The two settings
I definitely recommend are empty and resume and recharge and resume.  I
think I have mine on max suction as well.  I have not touched the app since
setting things up since it works with Alexa and Google Home as well.
Hope this helps.
Haylie

-----Original Message-----
From: Electronics-Talk <electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of
Aaron Spears via Electronics-Talk
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2023 9:56 PM
To: Drew Hunthausen via Electronics-Talk <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Aaron Spears <valiant8086 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] robot vaccumes

Hi.

So far, Roborock S6 Max. It talks, and the Roborock app is fairly accessible
although you can't review the map with a screen reader. 
Speaking of map, it does map the whole home using LiDAR, and it does a
pretty nice and reliable job. There is another app, Mi Home, that can
interact with it too, but it has to be set up one way or the other it won't
work with both without being reset to work with what ever you want and
starting over. There are other versions S4, s7 max, s8 pro etc. I can do
everything except set map specific things like virtual no go zones or use
the pin n go feature, etc. It also, at least ours, doesn't support naming
rooms and letting you Alexa, clean the kitchen. You could set that up in the
map using the app, but not accessibly. Other brands do let you assign room
titles although I don't know about the accessibility. The Roborock is
durable and reliable though and the app is plenty good enough to set the
settings and cleaning modes and keep up with its maintenance suggestions and
whatnot, at least on Android.

There is at least one Neato Bot Vac that doesn't do the app or anything and
still does whole home mapping without internet of any kind, and without a
touch screen. However some of he neatos do have touch screens but not all.
Don't buy a bot vac that doesn't do whole home mapping, it's just not going
to help you enough to have one that randomly turns around and wanders when
it bumps into things and hopes it gets everywhere.

If you want to take a chance on app accessibility where noone I know has
gone yet, try Tesvor and 360. 360 has a few Roborock competitors that are
cheaper than Roborock and at least as nice. I know nothing about the app.

I don't know if the Shark IQ robots have an accessible app, and I don't know
the state of accessibility for the Roomba, however Roomba has committed to
being accessible in the past, so maybe.

There are two common ways to do whole home mapping, VSLAM and LiDAR. 
LiDAR has a laser turret on top of the bot that spins a thin and invisible
laser beam slowly in circles, usually under a protective cover in the middle
of the bot on top. It measures the returning laser light emission  as it
reflects off objects that do reflect such. Using tiny fractions of a second
of accuracy in measuring the time to return it determines distances in all
directions to anything. Normally LiDAR bots don't have cameras but not
always. This means they don't have pictures of your home if that is a
concern. Since LiDAR is its own light source, a blind person who doesn't
care to have the rooms lit up won't have to worry about potential issues
that could be a result of being too dark, which can sometimes affect VSLAM.
LiDAR stands for Lighting Distance and Ranging.

VSLAM visual simultaneous localization and mapping, generally involves a
camera that points upward toward the ceiling, and takes pictures and tries
to match them with the existing map of such pictures to determine the bot's
location. It does need some light to function. In general, LiDAR is more
accurate than VSLAM but VSLAM works well too for most products that utilize
it.

Neato are LiDAR and pretty much pioneered the idea of using it for robot
vacuums. Most Roborocks are LiDAR navigated but not all. Roborock's s7 line
contains at least one model that has object recognition camera that is used
for obstacle recognition and avoidance (it can go around dog poop), but uses
its LiDAR for navigation primarily.

Roomba, I believe are all VSLAM, but I am not sure of that. 360 has at least
some LiDAR navigated bots, Tesvor also.

If you want mopping combined with the vacuum, Roborock is the most common
option to use, but the s7 and s8 are the first to really have a mop worth
having. The  s6 max has mopping but it's kind of useless. The
360 line does include some with mopping capability but I'm not up to speed
on how good they work. If you just want to follow our footsteps but don't
care about mopping, the s4 I believe is the same as the s6 max but minus the
mopping for quite a bit less money.

Our Roborock sucked up dog poop one day. It finished and went back to the
charger. It's not a wet dry vac, but it didn't hurt it. It had poop stuck in
the wheels and everything. We ended up spraying up in the wheel wells with a
water hose trying to get it to come out. We figured it was ruined, but after
a couple of days letting it sit and dry it still worked ok and it didn't
smell too bad. Later, it started turning right when it tried to go and then
erroring out. Come to notice, it wasn't sitting level, the left side was on
the floor but the right was raised a little. The right wheel had something
on top of the wheel in the wheel well keeping it from going up all the way,
and the friction of that obstruction rubbing the top of the wheel was
preventing it from turning, and thus the problem with turning right and not
being able to go anywhere.

I was able to get Roborock to send us a video describing how to replace the
wheels. We weren't trying to replace them, but the video with sighted
assistance of course helped me disassemble the bot enough to clear some
cotton that somehow had gotten on top of the wheel and the bot is working
fine since then, about 9 months later. It runs daily and has been doing so
for years.

Mom recently noted that it wasn't cleaning the dining room area at all, just
completely ignoring it. I went in and deleted the map after we had fought
with it for a while and then created a new map. It told me to let it finish
and not to pick it up. It then cleaned the whole house and reconstructed the
map. It did get stuck 3 times, I just pulled it out of the predicaments
without picking it up and used the clean button to make it resume. It was at
20 percent battery power before it finished and it went to the charger and
then resumed once it made it up to 30 percent charge, finishing the house
just bearly with only 20 percent left again before it returned to the
charger with the map fully reconstructed. It took 95 minutes on a brand new
mapping run to do 898 square feet. Was on max suction mode so the battery
power was a little short or it would have been faster.

The bot can usually add new discoveries to the map but I think someone made
a no go zone for the dining room at some point and then glitched things out.
I know that a couple years ago the idea of making it not run in there was
brought up to keep it from spending so much time twining between all the
chair legs.

Moving the docking station messes it up. It makes lots of silly mistakes
(like getting stuck under furniture that it had been successfully
circumnavigating prior to the move) for several runs after that until it
finally settles in again. It tries to learn where it tends to get stuck and
just avoids that. For instance it'll jam itself under our recliners and then
be unable to back out or turn around because the top of the bot is being
pressed down by the underside of the chair which has a slope on it. But you
just pull it out and make it resume and next time it won't get stuck there.

Having a bot vac is not a hands-free solution. It still requires some
attention, but the right bot can definitely do most of the work all by
itself.

Cheers:
Aaron Spears, AKA Valiant8086 General Partner at Valiant Galaxy Associates
"we make (VERY GOOD AUDIOGAMES) for the blind comunity"
http://valiantGalaxy.com

On 4/28/2023 6:27 PM, Drew Hunthausen via Electronics-Talk wrote:
> Hi list,
>
> What are the best/ accessible robot vaccumes that you have used? 
> Thanks so much
>
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