Valetudo is a cloud-free web interface for robot vacuum cleaners | Hacker News Reader

Valetudo is a cloud-free web interface for robot vacuum cleaners

cnx-software.com

84 pointsdmayle20 comments

The very first thing I did on my old Xiaomi Gen1 was to root it with information from the dustcloud repo https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud/wiki and controlled it through python-miio. Until Valetudo came along I was stuck with that janky horrible solution. Now I have arguably a better interface than the official app. It's come a long way since the early days it's really easy and convenient to hook the vacuum up to Home Assistant.

It's actually one of the reasons I was recommending Xiaomi vacuum cleaners to friends and family. Unfortunately they have recently changed the firmware password making it impossible to root without using a direct serial connection. I really wish companies would embrace hardware tinkerers, I'm actually proud of a bloody vacuum because of all the effort I put in to make it do things.

Mad props to Hypfer for starting and building something so awesomely cool and useful

Two products which get daily usage in my house are an Asus RT-N16 router and a Vu+ set top box. Both had decent hardware for their time, but only ok-to-subpar firmware. Both were specifically bought because I could easily add custom firmware without any technical know how.

By 'de-shittifying' the product with custom firmware, you can turn it into a much more useful, future proof product. So I can echo your sentiment about supporting hardware hackers, it will actually increase sales, especially if Linux is supported.

I use this on my Roborock S5 - it’s been flawless - no fuss, and completely reliable. Hooked up to home assistant. Only time I’ve had to restart is for the rare update.

Unfortunately one can't buy Roborock S5 any more due to arrival of new model Roborock S5 max. And Valetudo doesn't support Roborock S5 max (Roborock (Xiaomi) locked it up).

It does actually, however I wouldn't recommend buying one.

As an alternative, look for the Dreame D9. Similarly priced as the original S5 and maybe similarily easy to root. Hopefully, we'll see a public root for it soon-ish.

There are a couple of these. Here's one for ECOVACS:

https://github.com/bmartin5692/bumper

Wonder to be able to disentangle these devices from invasive phone apps.

As an avid bumper user, it desperately needs a front end because Ecovacs's app is constantly changing and adding alternative routes of telemetry. (I'm 2/2 stale PRs on that repo)

Valetudo is a full-er solution it seems. Props to the author. Though, bumper does not require reprogramming the bot, it does require lots of local DNS hijacking.

Is it worth setting up for an Ecovac bot?

I have the roborock S6. The Youtube video (https://youtu.be/sn1tia80nT4?t=776) demonstrating the root process shows that 2 wires should be soldiered to RX and TX on the board. Can anyone recommended a wire to use (a link or a name will be nice)

edit: typo

I think dennis is using something called magnet wire there. Jumper wire could also be a search term

Anathem reference?

I thought it was a reference to the Brazilian martial art? Anyway, it's a smart name - "vale tudo" could be roughly translated to "anything goes" - it gives you the sense that you are no longer locked into one particular cloud ecosystem.

I thought of the Portuguese meaning, but also a Latin meaning (it's the Latin noun meaning "health").

Isn't vale tudo "catch as can" scripted wrestling?

I can't say that doesn't exist, but vale tudo definitely exists as something akin to mma.

No, Catch and pro wrestling came out of Lancashire style English Catch wrestling and American style folk wrestling (what college and high school American wrestling later became). Vale Tudo is what developed into MMA, BJJ and to a lesser extent Luta Livre dominated the sport in Brazil and the Gracie family tried to export it to other countries. That became UFC1 and the birth of MMA in America with Royce Gracie being the driving force. In Japan it became Pancrase/PrideFC and Rickson Gracie being one of the most famous fighters. Real fights, not scripted at all with VERY few rules or often no. Two people walk into a cage or ring, they lock the door and the winner walks out kind of fight. No time limit and no banned techniques (also called No Holds Barred or NHB). Vale tudo fights where often held at carnivale or other festivals.

Pro wrestling started in a very similar way, with Catch As Catch Can wrestling (a very real and effective martial art) challenge matches in fairs and festivals. Wrestlers would challenge fair goers for a fee and if the fair goer won they would win a large prize. In practice that almost never happened. Catch was effective enough that the managers of the fair started making the Wrestlers play with the challengers. From that they started scripting it for a show and selling tickets for it since that made a lot more money. Eventually that turned into fight theater style matches and Pro Wrestling like WWF etc... Interestingly Abraham Lincoln was a Catch Wrestler and won a number of championships, which was when it was a actual sport and non-scripted. Another reason Lincoln was a bad ass :).

I have a passion for grappling (BJJ, Judo, and American Foldstyle/Freestyle/GrecoRoman Wrestling) and have done it form the better part of my adult/teen years.

I learned a lot from this rather extensive comment, thank you.

> Valetudo is the roman name for the greek goddess Hygieia which is the goddess of health, cleanliness and hygiene. Also I’m bad at naming things.

https://valetudo.cloud/pages/faq.html

In case you don't know it, it's also a TV show in Portugal:

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_Tudo_(Portugal)

And a famous Brazilian soap opera from the 80's:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_Tudo_(TV_series)

And a style of fight:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_Tudo

It basically means "anything goes" in Portuguese... hence why the variety of uses for the phrase.

Valetudo en el culo te la sacudo

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