by a4refillpad » January 18th, 2013, 10:20 pm
Thought I would start a dedicated "
wish list" thread to help out neato with ideas for their next gen neato.
Hopefully neato would take some of these ideas from their customers on-board.
(quick list I have to kick things off - some of these could be even implemented into current gen!)
Software ideas: • option to carry out multiple schedules on a single day.
• ability to attempt restart/dock automatically from RPS faults and other faults. (rather than wait forever)
• option to schedule a deep clean (run over same spot more than once)
• option to schedule a quick clean (run at higher speed)
• option to "find dock". (neato is one of the few bots out there that requires you to manually dock it)
• option to clean a single room only
• quiet/night mode option? run with vacuum on lower power for night or day runs.
• more imaginative display. (LCD screen is great but really underutilised.)
• spot clean to perform a "spiral" pattern as well as current pattern for deeper clean
Hardware ideas:• Self emptying option (ala Karcher, Deepoo and Samsung)
• Transparent dirtbin (as per their promo video to see when full!)
• replacement dirtbin with "quick/easy empty" option for people to empty with handheld or full vac.
• extend the suction and beater bar to right edge of robot to edge clean properly (possibly better than sidebrush)
• Wifi or at least some kind or remote start (true home automation!)
• bump sensor needs to be much more sensitive. currently low objects get moved around a little to much! Maybe some IR sensors too to help out.
• Softer wheels/castors (my hardwood floors have had a lot of small surface scratches due to continuous repetition the hard plastic wheels) Softer ones would also make for a quieter/smoother operation and less banging noise when the bot falls back down after raising itself to get out of corner etc.
• upward facing blower/outlet. (not sure why no other bot i've seen adopt this) This would prevent dust being blown around the floor before being captured.
• Some kind of dirt detection
Please add some more ideas to help them out!

[edited to tidy up list with bullets]
current bots: Clebo Arte, Vorwerk VR-100 (one broken one new), Neato XV-25, Neato XV-12, Roomba 564, Evo Mint 2, Roomba 770, Hauzen VC-RE70V, Samsung SR8980, Karcher RC3000, Robomow RL350 (lawnmower)
previous bots: Samsung SR8845, Neato XV-15