Next Generation Roombas will arrive before Christmas

[mofan]

Irobot held its quarterly conference call with investors today, and it noted that the next generation roombas are coming during this quarter (sometime between now and December 31). You can bet that they will have them available in time for the Christmas shopping season, so I would bet that they will be announced by mid-November. These are the exact words Irobot's CEO used to discuss the new product launch:

"In Q4, we will launch our next generation of Roomba. In keeping with our tiered launch strategy, the new product will be sold exclusively on our website through year-end. In Q1 2014, consistent with our other new product introductions, we will broaden distribution through a limited number of domestic retailers and international channels. No additional details regarding the product will be available until its launch later this quarter."

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.Fi ... lwZT0z&t=1

Makes me wonder what features the new robot will have. Lately, Neato's vacuums seem to be getting stronger reviews, so Irobot needs to change the perception that it is no longer the unquestioned leader in the field. I can think of a few features that would make it a more compelling purchase:

1. Smart navigation that is more similar to the Neato, or perhaps even improves upon it where you wouldn't need magnetic strips or lighthouses to go room-to-room.
2. Stronger vacuum motor and a better battery to go along with it.
3. Self-emptying dustbin.
4. More durable components.
4. Anything else?

[barcode]

1. forget the navigation. Roomba works great as it is.

2. A stronger vacuum would always be welcome, but not at the cost of battery life.

3. Self emptying dustbin would be great, but:

4. Fix the darn CHM. I don't want to have to clean it every time roomba runs to keep it alive.

Item 4 is the only thing Irobot really needs to fix. A robot such as this shouldn't require maintanance every time you run it, that defeats the purpose of a home robot. Fix the CHM and make a robot that will last 5 years with only minimal maintanance and an occasional battery change. my 2nd generation Roomba rarely needed its CHM cleaned, and it never failed over 4 years of use. My 500 roomba is on its 4th CHM...

[vic7767]

iRobot has a Universal CHM that will replace your 5XX CHM. It is a major improvement over the previous 3 CHM designs. You can still mod it with sealed ball bearings but even if you don't, it will outlast all previous designs.

[piokrza]

I would love to see redesigned Scooba 200 & 300 series water tanks, with the possibility to full access by user.

[Markrose]

Wonder what these'll be like... I hope for a bigger dustbin, and smart navigation. I'm fine with the bump and go if it will still be used (heck, it's the signature thing), but it'd just look smarter in general if it followed a pattern.

[mofan]

I disagree with the above poster that the navigation on the existing roombas is just fine. The fact is, the roomba has some smarts about where it goes to cover your floors, but it is still basically running blind. In fact, it is worse than a blind person vacuuming your floors, because at least a blind person can figure out the layout of your house through trial and error and gets better over time. Roomba starts from stratch each time, because it does not learn anything about your house that it can remember for next time.

I believe that Irobot is going to put some type of SLAM navigation on the new roombas. One of the main reasons that they acquired Evolution Robotics last year was to obtain the intellectual property surrounding their SLAM navigation algorithms. Irobot has publicly stated that will be the next step with their robots. Having a more methodical way of cleaning the floor opens up many opportunities. For instance, the vacuum motor on the roomba is necessarily weak because it has to cover most areas of the floor something like an average of four times to ensure (mostly) complete coverage. If the roomba can methodically clean and know where it has and hasn't been, it will take a much shorter time to clean the floor, which allows Irobot to put a much stronger vacuum motor in the robot without needing a much bigger battery. If the robot used camera based navigation, that could also allow it to avoid bumping into furniture and running over items that could get tangled in the brushes, because it would see and avoid them. It would be nice to let Roomba go to work without worrying about every single loose item laying on the floor.

[Markrose]

Touché, mofan. It is possible they will do so, or they may surprise you and continue with the classic original bump bots. There is truth in what you say, but you can't compare a mindless, code run metal and plastic circle versus a human being; that's absurd. But, comparing it to say, a neato, that makes more sense. I'd love to see smart navigation, heck, I'd buy it the first month it's out for my second floor! But, if they choose to stick with the bumper, I'll hang on for the next couple of years. Besides, it's been proven that it's cleaning is efficient. The neato, if it misses something, it will never pass over it again, or at least until the next cleaning cycle. But the Roomba on the other hand, with its repetitive nature, would pass over the dirty area, use dirt detect (something not many robots have), and drive away, only to pass over it again later. This repetitiveness is what makes it superior to other robots. After all, it IS the most popular robotic vacuum.

[Markrose]

Also, if they use Braava's mapping technology with the cube, you can forget about me buying the new Roomba; it looks so buggy, and like I would need to buy at least three for my house. Sounds like an apple marketing scheme: make people buy accessory products vital for its performance, at unbelievably high prices! Of course, you'd have no choice, and you'd have to buy more navigation cubes, along with (I think) D batteries. Sounds like a cash cow to me. Of course, there's always a chance of the lidar being used in the Roomba. And if that happens, irobot would need to think of a way to keep the optical sensors from getting dirty. So far, bumping looks like the winner here.

[mofan]

I am not a big fan of north star either, and have no desire to need battery powered cubes for each room. Best case scenario for navigation would be their vslam technology, which uses a camera to orient itself. It is much cheaper than laser slam.

[vic7767]

I don't see much difference between a Lighthouse-Virtual Wall and a Northstar cube. I know they both are completely different in function but they are accessories and require batteries.

[Roombascoobatastic]

Figures they would release a new Roomba just after I get one for myself and a few family members! My wishlist for a new roomba is a home base that has the option to connect to the central vac for self emptying, and an app that lets you set the cleaning mode and method. Doorway recognition would be nice too; no more virtual walls.

[mofan]

No more virtual walls would be nice, but the cynical side of me thinks that the above poster might be right when he says that Irobot can move to North Star and overcharge everyone for the North Star cubes. At the same time, they will be able to claim that it is a revolutionary advance in roomba's navigational abilities.

I really like what Irobot has been able to do in bringing robots to the mass market for the first time, but they REALLY need some competition. I tend to look at the company from the viewpoint of a potential investor, and they have huge profit margins on their robots (something like 40%) because there is no viable competition. That also allows them to slow the pace of introducing new technology and new robots. After its initial roomba was released in 2002, Irobot quickly followed that up with the Discovery models in 2004, which had significant enhancements. Three years later came the 500 series in 2007, which were also a significant advance. Since 2007, the pace of innovation has slowed greatly, and prices have risen significantly. You can't fault Irobot for trying to maximize profits, but the whole robot industry would move faster and create better and cheaper products if there were some real competition out there. I was hoping that Neato or Dyson could/would do that, but Neato still seems to be a small portion of the market, and Dyson has yet to release a robot vacuum at all.

[Markrose]

I can't blame irobot for taking it slow for product releases; after all, who would compete with them? Even now there aren't many brands that make robotic vacuums, other than irobot.

From what I can tell, the mint/braava have been a cash project to see if the northstar system can bring extra profits to the already on the rise company. I honestly see it as a possibility for them including the northstar system, as they'd call it innovative that their braava products can now communicate with their robotic vacuums. And with that, they'd bring all of the issues of the braava over to their most popular product. Issues such as connection bugs, connection issues, and navigation loopholes where something was there before but isn't there now, pose a threat to the Roomba family if chosen as the mode of navigation.

Best case scenario is they include a camera for navigation purposes. I also largely dislike the idea of remote viewing with a robotic vacuum connected to your wifi network. Hackers could look into any household that has one of these robots. I'd like camera for navigation and ONLY navigation. Any more gimmicks and it'd be nothing but a slightly smarter Roomba. I honestly feel sorry for the technologically challenged buyer who will buy the most expensive Roomba they have today (790) and then see it $100+ less than when it was before the product update.

Also, with the northstar navigation, or basically any form of intelligent navigation that makes only one pass, the Roomba would have to use a slower top speed in order to compensate for the amount of times it would travel in the same place. Currently, because it goes over everything a few times, it can have a faster top speed due to it coming for a second round later. But if you go over it only once, you have to slow down to get similar cleaning performance. With using less passes, they can make a lesser capacity battery and possibly introduce a stronger vacuum.

I can see it already: irobot using accessories as a marketing scheme; $60-80 for a Roomba northstar navigation cube! (And as always, batteries not included.)

[Markrose]

But one thing that would be strongly welcomed into the irobot world, is LITHIUM ION BATTERIES. Think of the amount of batteries we'd save! Of course, this would lower the amount of sales in terms of ni-mh batteries currently. These batteries would also be more expensive to replace, though. Of course, you'd be getting more bang for your buck with lithium ion batteries.

[Markrose]

Blimey, the post before the batteries was quite the essay.

[Markrose]

And by the way, dyson IS trying for a robotic vacuum, but they say so far that they can't get their lossless suction power into something that small. Maybe with their newer digital motors they will achieve something. I'd actually like to see dysons crack at a robotic vacuum.

[Markrose]

And the only time I'd prefer the lidar system over a camera is when it is dark; the camera will seriously struggle and navigation mistakes will be made. But with lidar, it can work in any lighting condition.

Now, the chance of northstar being used is even higher; irobot can claim that it works in the dark, too.

[Markrose]

I don't get why threads just abruptly come to a halt, leaving many things unanswered. It's something I see so much, I start to wonder why...

[vic7767]

I've seen this same wish list process repeated every year and there is always a big disappointment when the new models are released and have none of the features mentioned incorporated.

[Markrose]

Like I said at the top of the forum, it'll probably be bump bots all over again...