Neato XV11 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

[someonehs]

Thanks for the responses! Yah, having two would be the ultimate... I'd set of the roomba first, then the neato.. that way you get the best of both worlds and the clean lines after... not that they make those on hardwood floors!

I think I'm going to try and sell them for the neato.. the tech is just too cool. Plus I like how they seem to be commited to releasing firmware updates.

Slightly off topic, but what do you think I should be asking for a "refurb" quality 530? What about the lowest end scooba?

Hopefully they sell quick, as i really wanna try out the neato.

[justflie]

Hey all. Just wanted to pass along my experiences thus far with the Neato. I've been running it for a week. It ran really well through the first two rooms but had some trouble in my dining room. The dining room chairs were pushed all the way into the table. The gap between the back feet of each chair is just large enough for the Neato to fit in. The cross bar between the legs is around the same height as the laser turret. Neato would go under the chair and either not be able to find its way out or would push the chair around my floor (the laser turret was in contact with the cross brace). No bien. I put him back on the charger and have hot glued small strips of the magnetic barrier to the underside of the chair feet (so that they stick out and the robot can "see" them). That seems to have fixed that issue.

Another small problem I've been having is the robot has trouble crossing some of my doorway transitions. Neato is supposed to be able to handle a 3/4" high transition but it can't deal with mine (between 1/2 and 3/4"). To be fair, my Roomba 560 couldn't either. Neato, 7 out of 10 times cannot get into/out over that transition. He gives up and says that he's done cleaning the room. However, the weird thing is that once and a while he manages to scale the transition! Very inconsistent. I think the problem has to with the cliff sensors. As the robot pitches up the transition, the cliff sensors are obviously continuing to fire. As the robot moves forward (with the front end in the air) and crosses the high point of the threshold, it looks like (to the robot) that there is a significant drop off. Instead using the suspension to level itself off and check the cliff sensor properly, it just gives up, backs up, and tries again. Annoying! It can obviously get over the transition (since it has on a few occasions), but can't do it consistently.

The other other annoyance is the lack of a sidebrush. In some instances I have seen it effectively clean edges but, for the most part, whatever is right up against the wall will not get picked up despite the suction power. A disappointment but not a game changer for me.

Otherwise, I've been extremely happy with the robot. It came with the shorter squeegee installed (as far as I could tell) and thus far has not had any RPS errors (maybe 5 runs). We'll see how things progress. Very little hair wrapped around the brush. Easy to clean. I'm bringing it to my in-laws' house this weekend to show/test in a different house. They have a very black area rug in a room that gave Roomba fits. I'll be interested to see how Neato handles it.

[piokrza]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnkDPg0f4pw[/video]

[piokrza]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5a339JKzJw[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8G72NAppKY[/video]

[Neatorobot]

Hello all,

because it was a hard decision for me which vacuuming robot I should buy I decided to do a complete video of my flat letting the Neato XV-11 clean it so you can see by yourself how it behaves.
In fact the forum helped me a lot so I want to contribute my share by this video.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJOA1r39a2M[/video]

[sageman]

you can only have videos of upto 10 minutes

you may have to edit it to something like 8 minutes and the rest in another video

[piokrza]

Hi Neatorobot,

your video is no longer available as it is too long. Try to split it into two video clips and upload them separately. Use one of the "splitting" programs.

[piokrza]

oh, sorry don't catch it

[sageman]

lol 1 day would fill up that at the mo
dogs molting

[piokrza]

XV-11 disassembly http://www.robotshop.com/blog/neato-xv- ... vacuum-978

[sageman]

some more videos

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqhhHsA3AeU[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5a339JKzJw[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDKMc_qkg5A[/video]

[piokrza]

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/1 ... -down.html
http://www.sparkfun.com/news/490
http://www.binary-apotheosis.com/had/Re ... epaper.pdf

[sageman]

wow i was starting to wonder how long it would be till some propper hackers got their hands on it

[piokrza]

http://forums.trossenrobotics.com/showthread.php?t=4528

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJVEFlbuFO4[/video]

[sarah.weir]

Hi all

Sorry if this question as already been asked, but I was wondering if anyone in Queensland, Australia has been able to import one of these. I'm wanting to know where I can get a hold of one because i'm hitting brick walls when it comes to shipping to Aus.

Thanks

[djos]

Im in SA and used PriceUSA.com.au, they are based in Victoria with an agent in a NetTax free US state and Carolina is excellent to deal with - the $20 return insurance is well worth paying for in case of in warranty issues that require shipping back to the USA (mine might be going back soon).

[dj_siek]

http://www.priceusa.com.au

[vic7767]

Thanks to user hash79 over on the trossenrobotics website who provided a Windows psudo driver I have now been able to connect a USB / mini USB cable between a PC and the Neato and grab some tidbits of info. Here is the capture from the GetVersion command:

getversion
Component,Major,Minor,Build
Product Model,XV-11,,
Serial Number,WTD31510DD,0001207,P
Software,1,0,12959
LDS Software,V2.1.12813,,
LDS Serial,AAA36606AA-0000519,,
MainBoard Vendor ID,505,,
MainBoard Serial Number,1249,,
MainBoard Version,7,0,
Chassis Version,1
UIPanel Version 1,

This was done on a Rev112 board.
So far I have not had the LDS error but I haven't run a lot of missions yet.

I've included a zip file of the driver. It works with my XP with SP3. and Procomm Plus.

[djos]

Nice, thanks Vic.

[piokrza]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ecxNVuljT0[/video]