That’s not the only change. iRobot is finally making good consumer use of the navigation technology it picked up when it acquired rival robot vacuum manufacturer Evolution Robotics in 2012, and Roomba – the world’s best known, if not the most popular, robot vacuum – may be better for it. The ability to map allows the Roomba 980 to clean a home more efficiently-think parallel lines-as well as recharge itself without starting the room over. Roomba 980 is the first Roomba to combine adaptive navigation with visual localization, cloud connected app control, and increased cleaning power on carpets, helping people to keep cleaner floors throughout the entire home at the push of a button. “Roomba 980 is the next big step as it marks iRobot’s first cloud connected product with mapping capabilities for the consumer market”.
Advertisement
iRobot’s first Roomba control app is exceedingly obvious. While he wouldn’t go into specifics about where the company might look to go next in the smart-home sphere, he pointed to the visual-mapping technology as something that could be useful in plenty of other areas. The company just announced the Roomba 980, which has Wi-Fi connectivity and can be controlled from your smartphone.
The Roomba can also sense when your floor is extra-filthy using optical and acoustic sensors and clean these areas more thoroughly.
The Roomba 980’s iAdapt 2.0 technology allows the vacuum to actually map your home using its various sensors and smart processing.
“Vacuum cleaning robots can’t rely on any one feature or technology to clean effectively”, said Christian Cerda, executive vice president and general manager of iRobot’s Home Robots business unit. The app also lets you check up on your Roomba to make sure it did its homework, as well as tweak how exactly it cleans your home.
This particular model can operate for two hours, and will return to its charging base on its own when necessary.
When the Roomba 980 draws a map of your home as it vacuumes, it will take into account objects that it must navigate around, including furniture and clutter. You can also create a cleaning schedule from the app or access customer service.
Advertisement
Sensors also allow for Roombot to detect the type of surfaces its cleaning, enabling it to optimize how it picks up the dirt in your home. It will, for instance, automatically provide twice the cleaning power on carpet and rugs. First introduced on the Roomba 800 Series, the Roomba 980 also features brushless, dual counterrotating debris extractors that grab dirt from any floor type while reducing hair tangles and brush maintenance.
