Robotic Vacuum's - anyone done much research?
 

I've been asked to obtain and test a robotic vacuum for use in the factory. It needs to be used down below some equipment sucking up aluminum chips and fasteners. It appears that iRobot is about the only manufacture of these, and they dont appear to actually use any vacuum. Anyone have much insight into these?

I dont personally have one, but I have seen one work before. You are right in the fact that they do not used a vacuum. They have a roller shaped brush that spins and "sweeps" the derbis into the collections pan. I'm not sure how well it works on hard floor, but it works great on carpet.

The iRobot Dirt Dog is probably what you're looking for. You're right; it's not a vacuum, but seems to be made for shops where dirt, wood chips, and other bits are found.

Another alternative would be to get the cheapest iRobot and scavange it for parts. Then, get a shop vac or something and modify it with the iRobots "guidance system". Probably have to beef up the iRobot's electronic drive to push a shop vac around though, as well as come up with a motor/drive system.

Why not just use small children or midgets? I am sure they would rather do that than clean chimneys???

I don't personally own one but know several that do and have seen the work. They are well designed machines for their intended purpose. Before I had seen them in action I was rather skeptical. I would imagine that the same principles applied, the shop version should be good for your needs as well.

If not, linc's midget idea would probably be the next best thing...

Yeah, I've got a midget in mind......the short little freak that sits right in front of me...!

I'm thinking we will end up going in the direction of Brians post. I did some reading on iRobots website, and the lower end models (including the DirtDog) appear to rely on "bump" steer technology - i.e., they have to bump into something to find their pathway. The upper end units have wireless controls, and you can set up virtual walls for them, which is critical in our application. I've recommended to the boss's that we purchase the upper end unit for testing....

I've got a 500 series iRobot (570 I think). It does a pretty good job on hard floors as well as carpet. The dust/debris container is not very large ( I'm guessing about a cup in volume) so it may not be practical in a shop environment if you have a good amount of debris on the floor. On the 500 series you can limit the space it operates in so you could clean sections at a time to compensate for the small dustbin (or maybe run two at once?).

Hmmm - thats tiny. There's probably a five gallon buck full of aluminum drill shavings per day. That's be one of the initial challenges we'll have to overcome.

Yup, you'll need a modified shopvac...

Or a modified iRobot. You guys are some of the smartest guys I have ever seen. I am sure you can build a small iRobot sleeper with a big enough capacity.

I meant modded shopvac for the storage capacity. But yeah, I'd use the main guts from an iRobot to base the guidance and drive/control systems on. Just need to "amplify" the drive motor power so it can drive something heavier around. A simple high current H-bridge on the iRobots outputs to beef up the current would work - maybe even boost the voltage at the same time...

And since we are thinking a bit outside the box here, how about a non-contact charging system? When nearing the end of the charge, have the vacuum drive to the base, which uses electromagnetic coupling to charge the cells? Basically, half a transformer at the base, and half on the vac. They'd have to be fairly close together though.

That is what a roomba does... http://www.roboticvacuums.net/

Poo. And here I thought it would be a neat added feature. Although, the charging current and even voltage will probably have to be beefed up to handle the larger batteries.