Robots without cameras have an extremely difficult time distinguishing obstacles like cables etc on the ground.
And yes, I keep the floors free of cables and clutter when it's vacuuming time. That isn't a hassle
It still saves me time, which was the reason that I bought it in the first place.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-i...
Reminds me of this one car company that sold me something called "FSD" that never worked. Hopefully they'll be bankrupt soon too.
It’s incredibly difficult in a successful business to change direction or even innovate.
There’s a bunch of guys in the engine room throwing coal into the furnace.
There might be one or two lookouts shouting - but they are drowned out by the noise of the engines.
If you’re lucky there’s a guy in the wheelhouse desperately spinning the wheel - but the connection between the wheel and the rudder is broken.
I have also recently set-up the LIDAR-equipped 705 for my parents and let me tell you, there is no comparison.
The navigation speed is greatly improved which means cleaning tasks take a lot less time. Furthermore, it works in complete darkness with no problems! The camera-equipped model just bumps into stuff randomly and then gives up when it's too dark.
I wonder if they fell into a sunk cost fallacy with their camera-based approach.
Right now, their chinese OEM bought them and seems to be committed to keeping their robovacs alive.
It is my understanding that US availability of the top models (such as 705 combo) may be limited, so here is a german youtube channel that has a lot of reviews of their newer units and compares them to the old ones (usually the S9 or 980, as those are the best units when it comes to vacuuming): https://www.youtube.com/@frickhelm/videos
You should look at a teardown of one of those sensors. It's a 1D lidar (if you can even call it that, until recently all of those were not ToF but more triangulation/reflection angle) being spun, no high res scans of anything can be achieved using that tech :)