fubarobfusco comments on Consider a robot vacuum. - Less Wrong

16 Post author: BrandonReinhart 05 June 2012 08:08AM

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Comment author: fubarobfusco 05 June 2012 04:48:30PM *  33 points [-]

Some other things to think about:

  • The Neato and the Roomba run very different algorithms. The Roomba is a bucket of random numbers with some constraints. The Neato actually makes a plan. The Neato is better at not getting trapped under dining room chairs; the Roomba is better at not getting tangled in electrical cords.
  • They are also very different hardware. The Roomba is mostly a sweeper (it took me forever to realize that "Roomba" is "broom" inside out) whereas the Neato is mostly a vacuum cleaner. The Roomba is better at hair (although you have to clear its brushes pretty often). The Neato is vastly better at dust. Both are good at dry dirt; neither one can handle anything wet.
  • The Roomba's "virtual walls" are light beams; as such, they reflect off of mirrors — and glass surfaces such as sliding glass doors, depending on incident angle. Also, the virtual wall generators take batteries. The Neato's magnetic strips don't look that bad along existing borders (e.g. carpet to tile).
  • The Neato knows what a doorway is without being told, and can complete one room then migrate to the next. The Roomba requires doorways to be marked with special virtual wall generators if you want it to do that.
  • An upright vacuum cleaner usually has attachments. While this keeps it from achieving Buddhist enlightenment, it also means you can use it to dust the furniture or remove cobwebs from the ceiling corners. You can do a lot of this with a cheaper handheld, of course; but you can't do it with a robot.
Comment author: [deleted] 05 June 2012 05:34:23PM 9 points [-]

While this keeps it from achieving Buddhist enlightenment,

This is the humorous cherry on top of a solid post filled with details. Well done!

Comment author: Alicorn 05 June 2012 05:39:25PM 1 point [-]

An upright vacuum cleaner usually has attachments. While this keeps it from achieving Buddhist enlightenment

Bahahahaha :D

Roomba is better at hair (although you have to clear its brushes pretty often). The Neato is vastly better at dust.

"Better at hair" as in "better able to pick hair up at all", or as in "better able to avoid being crippled by a long hair"? I have really, really long hair and if I were to get a cute pet robot it would do well to be able to handle that, but dust is important too.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 05 June 2012 09:18:37PM 1 point [-]

Do you have any information about comparative reliability? For me, reliability is a virtue second only to "does it work at all?"

I had a Roomba some years ago, the second-series "Discovery" model. I had less than two years use out of it before the cliff sensors started behaving like it was always looking over a cliff. Taking it apart (a very long and fiddly task which left me distinctly unimpressed by its design) and cleaning everything I could get at helped for a while, but not enough and I eventually relinquished attachment to the sunk cost (i.e. I threw it out). iRobot after-sales service outside the US was nonexistent then, and spares were unobtainable.

Comment author: fubarobfusco 05 June 2012 09:32:02PM -1 points [-]

Do you have any information about comparative reliability?

Not really; I've only had the Neato for a couple of weeks. My Roomba experience was similar to yours — I'm pretty sure the fatal problem was sensory rather than cognitive or motor.

Comment author: moreati 05 June 2012 10:35:42PM 0 points [-]

They are also very different hardware. The Roomba is mostly a sweeper (it took me forever to realize that "Roomba" is "broom" inside out) whereas the Neato is mostly a vacuum cleaner.

Does this have any bearing on the hard floor vs carpet suitability of each? I have both, but I'd like to optimise for carpet

Comment author: fubarobfusco 05 June 2012 11:07:36PM -1 points [-]

I haven't run either on hard floors much.

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