Next Step For Roomba: Mesh Networked Mini Units

What if Roombas were half the diameter they are now and you could deploy six of them to scour your room? Smaller units could maneuver into smaller spaces. Sure they wouldn't hold much but they could regurgitate their collections in the middle of the room for the parent Roomba to clean up. Mesh network the whole bunch and let the smaller units dock to the parent bot for recharging. The parent unit would be designed to transport and recharge the smaller units, clean up the dumpings of the smaller units and return to the master charging station.

I'm just thinking.

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Technorati Tags: automation, cleaning, cleaning robots, design, innovation, iRobot, vacuum, robots, Roomba, technology, tools

Comments

[thorn_stevens]

Great post. iRobot's MIT brain trust of Colin Angle, Helen Greiner and Rodney Brooks have already talked about this possibility somewhat, that you would have a team of robots doing somewhat different tasks with a main, smarter robot supervising. They already are developing such "Swarm" technology for the military, so it may one day translate into the Roomba line. Bit methinks that's probably a little ways off for now, simply because of cost. We're at the point where you can do a whole lot with robots, but keeping the price down is key and very, very hard to do.

[malc]

Put your idea on the tv show THE INVENTOR!

They give you $50,000 to pursue the idea. Of course you have to be chosen for it.

[Vivica]

Actually, if anyone has been successful at keeping the price points down it's iRobot. I don't know if you've seen anything about the latest from them (the Create) but it's asking price is going to be under $200. At least that's what I've read. If anyone is going to do it and keep it reasonable they are. I own all three of their models (Roomba, Scooba and Dirt Dog) and their functionality and quality far exceed their cost. I can't sing their praises enough.

I like the swarming idea but wonder where you'd keep all these devices? I mean, what's the point of making it smaller if now all of a sudden you've got six of these things? In the end you're going to end up taking up just as much space if not more. Maybe the smaller units could be housed within the parent unit somehow? It's an interesting idea.

[Vivica]

Actually, if anyone has been successful at keeping the price points down it's iRobot. I don't know if you've seen anything about the latest from them (the Create) but it's asking price is going to be under $200. At least that's what I've read. If anyone is going to do it and keep it reasonable they are. I own all three of their models (Roomba, Scooba and Dirt Dog) and their functionality and quality far exceed their cost. I can't sing their praises enough.

I like the swarming idea but wonder where you'd keep all these devices? I mean, what's the point of making it smaller if now all of a sudden you've got six of these things? In the end you're going to end up taking up just as much space if not more. Maybe the smaller units could be housed within the parent unit somehow? It's an interesting idea.

[arwinmercy]

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[Rainbow Tang]

I agree with you and I found it's more popular to use the Robot Vacuum Cleaners to clean our house instead of doing that by ourselves in China, especially in Shanghai, although other countries have already used these machines for many years. It will be a trend to the future and I found some Shanghai companies realize this trend and try to develop the huge market of China:
Shanghai Rob Live-in Industry Co.,Ltd
http://www.roblive-in.com/

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