The Humanoid Robot Revolution Is Missing Some Parts
The first robot vacuum I ever owned was a Neato Robotics XV Signature Pro in 2015, and it couldn’t distinguish a mouse from a sock.
I learned this the hard way when I returned from a trip and found that it had run over a glue trap and suctioned up a dead mouse. Then it ran out of battery and simply sat there, festering, until I got home and gagged at the stench.
I threw the entire robot vacuum into the trash and didn’t have the courage to buy another for years. In 2018, I tried the Ecovacs Deebot N795. It was worlds better in terms of app support, cleaning, self-docking and charging. It was also quieter than the Neato, which sounded like a fighter jet taking off.
But it still suffered from a fundamental weakness afflicting robots: It was lousy at recognizing and avoiding objects. It bumped into furniture...
Copyright of this story solely belongs to cnet.com. To see the full text click HERE
