Laser-Guided Vacuum Could Best the Roomba

A vacuum navigates like a robotic car-—with lasers!

By Corey Binns Posted 01.06.2010 at 10:44 am 7 Comments

Neato XV-11 All-Floor Robotic Vacuum Cleaner $400; neatorobotics.com Brian Klutch

Autonomous cars and military ‘bots find their way by using lasers to make virtual maps of terrain. Neato Robotics’s XV-11 applies the same tactic to your messy living room. The robotic vacuum uses smaller, cheaper lasers to scope out a space and plot the quickest path to cover it. So instead of wandering randomly and bouncing off objects, like other robot maids, it can devote its battery to actual vacuuming.

How to Vacuum with Lasers

Before it starts its housework, the XV-11 spins its invisible-laser range finder, taking 4,000 readings a second and measuring the distance to all objects within 13 feet. It repeats this process from several spots until it knows the location of every obstacle in the room, be they walls, doorways or table legs. Using this mental map as a guide, the robot calculates an orderly route. It covers the perimeter and then vacuums back and forth in rows, skirting obstructions and constantly updating its map to avoid Fido’s quick-moving legs.

In Related News: Motor Mop

Evolution Robotics Mint: Price not set; evolution.com Courtesy Evolution Robotics

Evolution Robotics’s Mint robotic mop, due out by December, cleans floors with disposable wet or dry Swiffer cloths that attach to its underside, so there’s no dust canister to empty. What’s more, even though the Mint doesn’t map out an entire room before it starts, it tracks where it’s been to ensure that it covers every inch. A small beacon on a shelf beams two spots of infrared light onto the ceiling, and the Mint uses these spots like GPS satellites, gauging and remembering where it is in relation to them. That lets it return to objects it encountered on its first pass, circling them to snag trapped dust.

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7 Comments

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ford2go

01/07/10 at 1:33 am

How do any of these gimmicks work if you have pets of the cat and dog ( or Gila monster! ) variety?

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link2110

01/07/10 at 6:14 pm

"It covers the perimeter and then vacuums back and forth in rows, skirting obstructions and constantly updating its map to avoid Fido’s quick-moving legs. "

its map is updated so it can see anything coming. all you have to do is train your pets, not to attack it, or even better, just ekep them out of the room for the duration of the process.

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Paulscott

01/10/10 at 11:57 pm

I'm sure my doggy will attack. Maybe they should design a pet proof as this would be shaken to bits in a matter of seconds!

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teabags

from houston, texas

03/02/10 at 11:15 pm

just a little thing i noticed, it missed something..a small black object it didnt pick up..oh, and what about the edges??..it didnt go up to the "walls" or the corners, just a small point i know.. but if its going to vaccuum my place, it better do the whole carpet

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claire59

05/14/10 at 3:06 am

Great vaccum!!! im waiting for it!!
bestofrobots.fr

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shawn360

10/05/10 at 5:08 am

Hm interesting! What about the mechanics and break down management. I would be worried it would go hay wire throughout the house or building. What a sight that would be the Roomba has escaped!

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