robot vacuums - bump n go

Posted by beerismygas on June 11, 2008, 2:13 pm

hi there,

was considering to get a roomba but from this clip (flash link below)
on their site
it appears that the robots movement is similar to a bump n go battery
powered toy car,totally random movements.

it says it covers a given area in a room on *average* 4 times.thats
like a car which drives forward then backward and covers the distance
to work 4 times just to get you to the offic in the morning.mileage x
4

Why wouldnt they choose to make it clean the room in a systematic
fashion? thx

http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid 4 Cleans whole floor

Posted by Wayne C. Gramlich on June 11, 2008, 3:14 pm

beerismygas wrote:

> hi there,
>
> was considering to get a roomba but from this clip (flash link below)
> on their site
> it appears that the robots movement is similar to a bump n go battery
> powered toy car,totally random movements.
>
> it says it covers a given area in a room on *average* 4 times.thats
> like a car which drives forward then backward and covers the distance
> to work 4 times just to get you to the offic in the morning.mileage x
> 4
>
> Why wouldnt they choose to make it clean the room in a systematic
> fashion? thx
>
>
> http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid 4 Cleans whole floor

If I recall correctly, they have a pretty small CPU, so they may
not have enough memory to actually hold a room map. The key thing
is that it is "hands off". You can do something else while it does
its thing. For some people, this is an acceptable trade-off.

-Wayne

Posted by Curt Welch on June 11, 2008, 3:42 pm

> hi there,
> was considering to get a roomba but from this clip (flash link below)
> on their site
> it appears that the robots movement is similar to a bump n go battery
> powered toy car,totally random movements.
> it says it covers a given area in a room on *average* 4 times.thats
> like a car which drives forward then backward and covers the distance
> to work 4 times just to get you to the offic in the morning.mileage x
> 4
> Why wouldnt they choose to make it clean the room in a systematic
> fashion? thx
> http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid 4 Cleans whole floor

I've never used one, but something I've read (or maybe something someone
told me) left me with the impression you put it in the center of the room
and it made a outward spiral pattern from the starting point and then it
would bump and go around furniture and other complex features of the room.
The outward spiral pattern is what made cover most the room in a fairly
predictable pattern.

Is there a manual for it on-line on the web site? You might try reading it
if it is. That would tell you more about it.

--
Curt Welch http://CurtWelch.Com/
curt@kcwc.com http://NewsReader.Com/

Posted by cadcoke4 on June 12, 2008, 6:47 pm

>similar to a bump n go battery powered toy car,

The Roomba definitely has a more complex system than bump-and-go. It
has an infrared sensor on one side, and the wheels have odometry from
optical encoders. Some models have dirt sensors, and more recent
upgraded ones have 'lighthouses" which help get the Roomba from one
room into another.

The basic logic is to start from the center and sprial out, then to do
a wall following routine, and finally do the bump-n-go. IF it detects
a lot of dirt, it will continue to navigate in that area. It also has
some logic to also help it get out of tight situations, such in
between chair legs.

Regarding the mapping of a room; I don't think it was the processor or
memory limitations that prevented this. Rather, it is the fact that
odometry very quickly looses its accuracy, and can't be relied upon to
vacuum a room.

There is a very in-depth group that discusses the Roomba at www.roombareview=
.com
There is one section devoted to people hacking it. Some are working on
methods of mapping a room and navigating it. The roomba has a serial
port, which makes it hacker friendly. The lower end models are a good
price for a robotics development platform. It think it is even better
than the IRobot Create kit, because the Roomba actually serves a
purpose.

Joe Dunfee

Posted by John Nagle on June 13, 2008, 1:25 am

cadcoke4 wrote:

>> similar to a bump n go battery powered toy car,

>
> The Roomba definitely has a more complex system than bump-and-go. It
> has an infrared sensor on one side, and the wheels have odometry from
> optical encoders. Some models have dirt sensors, and more recent
> upgraded ones have 'lighthouses" which help get the Roomba from one
> room into another.
>
> The basic logic is to start from the center and sprial out, then to do
> a wall following routine, and finally do the bump-n-go. IF it detects
> a lot of dirt, it will continue to navigate in that area. It also has
> some logic to also help it get out of tight situations, such in
> between chair legs.

That's about right. It has no clue where it is.

It's about time for SLAM to make it down to the hobbyist level.

John Nagle

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