[Electronics-Talk] Roborock Q5

Wed Apr 3 16:20:17 UTC 2024

Hi.

If you don't have sighted people living with you, but you do have 
sighted friends that you trust, you could have them sign the app in on 
their phone so they can look at what it's doing or help you with the 
mapping anytime they've got a minute. They can do that without being on 
the same network as the bot.

Just for anyone who has a bot with cameras on it, beware they might be 
able to view you through the camera feed anytime they want. Most of the 
Roborock models, including the q5 being discussed in this thread, do not 
have the cameras and just rely exclusively on LiDAR navigation.  Their 
most expensive models can have one or two cameras used not so much for 
navigation, but for identifying objects as being obstacles or things 
that can safely be ran over, or not. It knows to avoid dog poop and it 
can notify about socks found under beds, etc. But the camera feed is 
available through the Roborock app, allowing the user to remotely drive 
the bot vac and have a clear image of what is in front of it as they go. 
As I recall, there is a noise associated with the start of the feed. 
Just for your curiosity, when you're viewing the feed, not only can you 
drive the bot around and see what it sees, but you can listen on its 
microphone and you can talk through it. It's intended for folks away who 
want to check in on their pets mostly.

Once again, that's only for the very expensive models, close to $1000, 
and above, and not all of those have it anyway. LiDAR just bounces a 
laser beam in all directions, and while it's possible to get a 3d image 
with LiDAR, these units don't have that kind of detail and there's 
little information to be gained from it even should someone be able to 
hack the bot. Basically, LiDAR is the same thing as Radar but with 
light. You shine the laser and wait for it to reflect back, and then you 
calculate how long that took. It happens at the speed of light of 
course, and it spins the laser around constantly scanning. It learns the 
shape of its environment, and most obstacles show up for it. LiDAR 
doesn't typically see things like empty trash bags. It usually can't see 
clear glass or water, and super reflective things, like chrome, mess 
with the beam too much for it to get anything accurate so it will 
generally bump into your extra shiny couch legs and whatnot.

I love LiDAR, it has a lot of useful applications, including to be able 
to measure how far to a distant surface on your iPhone 15 pro max, etc.

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

On 4/2/2024 11:23 AM, Kay Malmquist via Electronics-Talk wrote:
> Hello,
> As far as the first failed attempt to map, I deleted it and started over
> fresh and it made it through the house.  Today I am going to try a full
> clean and let it fill in places that it didn't get completely to before.
> Thanks for your message and I will look in to creating that second level on
> this map.
>
> Kay Malmquist
> kay.malmquist at gmail.com
>
> "Abundance flows into your life when gratitude flows out of your heart."
> - Jon Gordon
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Aaron Spears via Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
> To: "Kay Malmquist via Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: "Aaron Spears" <valiant8086 at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2024 7:59 AM
> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Roborock Q5
>
>
> Hi.
>
>
> I never figured out how to name rooms. I think the only one that can do
> that accessibly right now is the Roomba and that may only be for the
> older ones like the famous 980. Happy to learn more if others have input
> on this.
>
>
> You might want to reset the map if you didn't do a full clean, otherwise
> I feel like it might be a lot slower to adapt it than it would have done
> if it got to do a full clean first time around. switching between maps
> for the upper and lower floors should be doable. That's about the extent
> of what you can do really. I don't have a multistory home to try. I'm
> unure just now if it will just work if you cary it to the other floor
> and push clean or if that has a chance to overwrite the default floor
> mapping or what. Maybe after your first floor is mapped try switching to
> the other map for the other floor and map it, and then just push the
> clean button after that and see if it figures it out. A sighted person
> can watch the app to easily understand what it thinks it's doing. It
> shows the map on the screen that it's using and shows where it's been by
> coloring it all in.
>
>
> There's two settings for your maps. Automatic saving and then not
> automatic saving. When that's off, a couple of other things don't work,
> I can't remember what they are but it should tell you when you're
> reading that setting. Maybe you can't actually do multi-floor mapping
> with it off.
>
>
> Battery level is at the top of the screen in the app when you're inside
> the area for the vacuum. E.g. press the enter button on the Roborock
> first, and where you have the clean buttons and the suction power at the
> bottom, the map button on the right, etc, you'll have a couple of things
> at the top. If you swipe right from the top left corner it should say a
> number and then battery level, then another number and then something
> else. The other number with something else is how much area it has
> cleaned. You can change it to square feet which reads slightly better,
> if that's what you prefer, in settings. Sometimes, it says percent
> battery level, just a label, and then sqft, and then it says 89 and then
> it says 190. The first one is battery and the second one is how much it
> has cleaned in my example.
>
>
> It will go back to charge up when the battery is low if that happens
> before it finishes cleaning and if it is on the floor that has the dock,
> of course. If you ever put it somewhere it can't get to the dock it'll
> usually stop right where it started for easy finding when you're ready
> to pick it up. However if it doesn't realize the dock is inaccessible
> it'll try to find it, and then stop where ever it gives up looking for
> it. Anyway, it learns how much charge it needs after the mapping is more
> complete. Until then, it'll charge a bit and then go back out and run
> some more but may have to go back and charge again. Once it's more sure
> of itself, it'll charge to the amount needed to finish with just one
> stop hopefully because it'll know how much runtime it needs.
>
>
> For the A girl skill go in the app to skills and find roborock and add
> it. It'll make you sign it in using the same account you used for the app.
>
>
> Cheers:
> Aaron Spears, AKA Valiant8086 General Partner at Valiant Galaxy Associates
> "we make (VERY GOOD AUDIOGAMES) for the blind comunity"
> http://valiantGalaxy.com
>
> On 4/1/2024 9:34 PM, Kay Malmquist via Electronics-Talk wrote:
>> I needed to turn off cellular data and all seemed to connect then.  I
>> called
>> Roborock and they walked us through the set up.  It was obvious they had
>> never worked with a blind person before and kept wanting to use the icon
>> look of the buttons rather than what they might represent.  Thank you that
>> I
>> knew that a button with three dots might be the more button and things
>> like
>> that.  I do have a question though.  I was able to create a map and as you
>> know it said that it would improve on it with each cleaning.  I did a
>> quick
>> map this time without cleaning   I will do a full clean next time.  My
>> question is, did you guys name your rooms in the map and do any other work
>> with them and the map?  In time I will figure out how to map the upstairs
>> as
>> well because I selected multi level.  If you want to take this off list,
>> that would be fine as well.  I'm thinking about having a sighted friend
>> come
>> over and look at this to see what can be done.  There is still a lot I
>> don't
>> know about this app.  Like how to figure out the battery level and how to
>> get the A lady going and the commands that the Roborock app has for her.
>>
>> Kay Malmquist
>> kay.malmquist at gmail.com
>>
>> "Abundance flows into your life when gratitude flows out of your heart."
>> - Jon Gordon
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Aaron Spears via Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> To: "Kay Malmquist via Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: "Aaron Spears" <valiant8086 at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Friday, March 29, 2024 8:18 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Roborock Q5
>>
>>
>> Hi.
>>
>>
>> It might work without WiFi. Just push the button in the middle and see
>> what it does. Who is your carrier? Usually modems/routers are accessible
>> enough to be able to turn the WiFi bands on and off. Your 2.4ghz might
>> be turned on already but it may be using smart-band-steering, using a
>> single network for all bands and forcing devices to use the best band
>> for their signal and their activity. Sometimes you just need to disable
>> the 5ghz band long enough to finish setup and then the device will be
>> able to stay on the 2.4ghz band afterwards even if you turn 5ghz back
>> on. If your 2.4ghz is off, I can think of no really good reason to leave
>> it off. It has better range than 5ghz and will be faster further away
>> from the router than 5ghz is. It is however more congested, as being
>> longer range means you have more noise from neighboring networks that
>> reach as far as you are. Also everything uses 2.4ghz, Bluetooth,
>> Microwaves, USB ports, etc so yeah.
>>
>> Cheers:
>> Aaron Spears, AKA Valiant8086 General Partner at Valiant Galaxy Associates
>> "we make (VERY GOOD AUDIOGAMES) for the blind comunity"
>> http://valiantGalaxy.com
>>
>> On 3/28/2024 4:03 PM, Kay Malmquist via Electronics-Talk wrote:
>>> I got the Q5 pro yesterday and someone was wondering if it had actual
>>> buttons or a touch screen.  I can tell you that they are buttons.  with
>>> the
>>> front facing away from you, the left one is spot clean, the middle is
>>> power
>>> and the right is home or dock.  They have different functions when either
>>> pressed together or held for a couple of seconds.  Right now I can't tell
>>> you about the set up because it does not use 5 GB and the carrier we have
>>> does not have the 2.4 Gb network turned on by default and of course their
>>> app is not accessible.  So we are stuck with waiting for a friend to come
>>> over and help us out with getting through what is not accessible.  I
>>> think
>>> then the actual vacuum set up shouldn't be that difficult.
>>>
>>> Kay Malmquist
>>> kay.malmquist at gmail.com
>>>
>>> "Abundance flows into your life when gratitude flows out of your heart."
>>> - Jon Gordon
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Tracy Carcione via Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> To: "'Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances'"
>>> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: <carcione at access.net>
>>> Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2024 8:32 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Roborock Q5
>>>
>>>
>>> Kay, I'll be very interested to hear how it goes.  I've decided to hold
>>> off
>>> on the robot vacuum for a bit longer.
>>> Tracy
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Electronics-Talk <electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of
>>> Kay Malmquist via Electronics-Talk
>>> Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2024 4:52 PM
>>> To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances
>>> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Kay Malmquist <kay.malmquist at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Roborock Q5
>>>
>>> Well, it looks like I will be the proud owner of a Q5Pro.  I hope the
>>> setup
>>> is reasonably easy.  Anything I should know before I jump in to this?  It
>>> will be arriving on Tuesday or Wednesday.  The last robotic vacuum I had
>>> was
>>> two Roombas around ten years ago.  I'm looking forward to something that
>>> just might be able to keep up with the pet hair.  We also bought an extra
>>> filter and bags for it.
>>>
>>> Kay Malmquist
>>> kay.malmquist at gmail.com
>>>
>>> "Abundance flows into your life when gratitude flows out of your heart."
>>> - Jon Gordon
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Aaron Spears via Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> To: "Tracy Carcione via Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: "Aaron Spears" <valiant8086 at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: Friday, March 22, 2024 9:01 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Roborock Q5
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi.
>>>
>>>
>>> There are two apps, Roborock and Mi Home. If one doesn't work as well
>>> the other one might work out. Alexa integration works a little better
>>> when using Roborock app though. I mostly just use my Android to run our
>>> Roborock S6 and yes I can't do anything with the map or no go zones, but
>>> I can schedule it. I can also make it restart the map and explore the
>>> whole home again and such. Are you shopping from outside the USA?
>>> Because the prices are better than you quoted.
>>>
>>>
>>> For me, the regular Q5 is a lot less than the price you quoted? Only
>>> $219USD
>>>
>>> Amazon.com - roborock Q5 Robot Vacuum Cleaner, Strong 2700Pa Suction,
>>> Upgraded from S4 Max, LiDAR Navigation, Multi-Level Mapping, 180 mins
>>> Runtime, No-go Zones, Ideal for Carpets and Pet Hair
>>> <https://www.amazon.com/Roborock-Q5-Upgraded-Navigation-Multi-Level/dp/B09N3
>>> JKFFY/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1XFCO1JARTSY0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.G9FMDCkT5PKcSC-LeC
>>> hPISVSzSClU07036xWus9jfQ2klgAHU1t7CqxoRq4uPohRB2HNoq_f6AIDJ-AZ7hkq2BJyvMl343
>>> ZvYDZySfXOrFl60gPXcOIpiOVjl-OvuTB-bZG-5YBqsx721c4jXzDnY5RdwtlsuzPdizsvi4D2zB
>>> _eDxr0tvNaNmd5OIIDuHYcL23PuzSAQvdXwLVey7PsZfJ3Qar5C0yuca7UZknRFXs.4lYBJypTLq
>>> VzaC5PDhbmsg2e0tnkSYOoQNWCFgh9p2k&dib_tag=se&keywords=roborock%2Bq5&qid=1711
>>> 158851&sprefix=roborock%2Bq%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1z
>>> cF9hdGY&th=1>
>>>
>>>
>>> And then there's the q5pro, which has a lot more suction and adds a
>>> mopping function. Costs $279.99
>>>
>>> Amazon.com: roborock Q5 Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo, 5500Pa Suction,
>>> DuoRoller Brush, LiDAR Navigation, Robotic Vacuum Cleaner with 240 min
>>> Runtime, Smart No-Go Zone, Perfect for Pet Hair : Industrial &
>>> Scientific
>>> <https://www.amazon.com/roborock-Q5-Pro-DuoRoller-Navigation/dp/B0C7VLHMQR/r
>>> ef=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1XFCO1JARTSY0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.G9FMDCkT5PKcSC-LeChPISVSz
>>> SClU07036xWus9jfQ2klgAHU1t7CqxoRq4uPohRB2HNoq_f6AIDJ-AZ7hkq2BJyvMl343ZvYDZyS
>>> fXOrFl60gPXcOIpiOVjl-OvuTB-bZG-5YBqsx721c4jXzDnY5RdwtlsuzPdizsvi4D2zB_eDxr0t
>>> vNaNmd5OIIDuHYcL23PuzSAQvdXwLVey7PsZfJ3Qar5C0yuca7UZknRFXs.4lYBJypTLqVzaC5PD
>>> hbmsg2e0tnkSYOoQNWCFgh9p2k&dib_tag=se&keywords=roborock+q5&qid=1711158851&sp
>>> refix=roborock+q%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc
>>> =1>
>>>
>>>
>>> Really good deal I think. We paid $450 for our S6 and it was a Black
>>> Friday deal for like a third off the original price. Q5pro has more
>>> suction and two brushes versus ours with only one.
>>>
>>>
>>> Cheers:
>>> Aaron Spears, AKA Valiant8086 General Partner at Valiant Galaxy
>>> Associates
>>> "we make (VERY GOOD AUDIOGAMES) for the blind comunity"
>>> http://valiantGalaxy.com
>>>
>>> On 3/22/2024 9:18 AM, Tracy Carcione via Electronics-Talk wrote:
>>>> Amazon has the Roborock Q5 vacuum on sale for around $379.  I remember
>>>> people mentioning this vacuum as good.  How is the iPhone app?  I expect
>>>> the
>>>> mapping is not accessible, but is scheduling?
>>>>
>>>> The ad says it's Alexa-compatible, but I don't have Alexa and don't want
>>>> it.
>>>>
>>>> Tracy
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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