The evolution of the Club Information Bureau Rumba is "soberly amazing!" [Club]

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Today's article introduces "The Evolution of Rumba is ``Simple and Amazing!'' increase!

The Weekly Us, which is released every week, has a special feature linked to the ASCII Club, and this Rumba feature was published in the issue released on October 25th last week. The difference between the articles on Weekly Us Electronic Edition and ASCII Club is the amount of characters. When posting on Weekly Us, the layout emphasizes "easiness to see", but when posting on ASCII Club, there is no limit on the amount of characters unique to the Web, so we deliver more detailed content. .

The evolution of consumer technology, no matter what route it takes, will eventually lead to self-depravity. If you press one button, it will automatically execute all the processes, or if you just set it and leave it alone, the product itself will select and execute the functions that the product has depending on the situation. I give it away. how to have fun It's a simple wish, but the way to make it happen is, of course, technology. What kind of technology does that product have, how will it evolve, and where will it go?

What about the Roomba? It is a cleaning robot made by iRobot and launched in the United States in 2002. It has been on sale in Japan since 2004, and has been the top seller in terms of sales volume since the first generation. Globally, cleaning robots appeared all at once from many manufacturers at relatively low prices around 2002, and conversely, before 2000, there were almost no home-use robots. As far as I can remember, the oldest is "Chiritory", which appeared from Nintendo in 1979 (however, it is controlled by remote control).

14 years of step-by-step reinforcement

The size of the original Roomba is 340mm x 87mm in diameter. The latest Rumba 900 series has a diameter of 353 mm x 92 mm and has not undergone an extreme size increase. Therefore, looking at the current model from 2002, the gradual evolution of the contents is the center.

The first Roomba with a button to specify the size of the room in S/M/L (2002)

Looking at the buttons, from the original "Rumba" to "Rumba Pro", it was necessary to select the size of the room in advance, but after the "Rumba Discovery" in 2004, the "Clean" button If you press , it will be OK, and the subsequent series will continue to develop internally. The "virtual wall", which creates an area where Rumba cannot enter with an infrared wall, has existed as an option since the first generation, and has been subtly changed in shape with each version. The current model has settled on a stick shape.

The algorithm that powers the Roomba originally came from the mine-hunting robot Fetch. Armament-industry technology is often used in home products, and Roomba's behavior is fetch-based. However, when removing mines, it is necessary to move all over the area because it is not possible to leave unchecked. In addition, it was premised on an environment such as a wasteland, which is unlikely to be a flat place.

Improving it for home use is the original form of the current rumba.

"Fetch", a landmine detection robot that became the prototype of the technology mounted on the Roomba

Rumba as a pet robot "My Sue is broken"

Name your smartphone or PC. It's partly for identification purposes, but some people should give it a pet-like name when they become attached to it. It is said that there are many people who give names not only to AIBO but also to Roomba, probably because they become more attached to robots. According to a survey conducted in the United States, about 70% of the respondents gave their names, and it seems that there were many inquiries to the support that "My Sue-chan is".

In some cases, they even brought them to the support center wrapped in blankets. Nowadays, it seems that the number of people who inquire about it by its name has decreased, but there must be a certain number of people who feel like a pet because it moves naturally autonomously. Also, although it is a story around the author, there are cases where mobile suit model numbers are attached and wrapped. Somehow, they are able to coexist well.

Speaking of coexistence, there is also the relationship with pets.

In the case of cats and dogs, it is a mystery how they recognize the rumba, but there are rumba that are only traces of biting without forgiving their hearts, and on the contrary, as uploaded to YouTube, rumba There is also a cat that rides. It seems that iRobot did not expect this at first, but now it seems that it is recognized that such a thing may happen.

However, he did not specifically study why the cat rides, and he said that he would like you to pay sufficient attention to the load on the motor and safety (in this case, the video of the cat running straight ahead). It's a lot, so I feel like it's unlikely to stop it). By the way, the 900 series demo has a stuffed cat on it, but it's a demo that works even if the camera is hidden, and it doesn't mean that it's okay for a cat to ride on it.

Familiar "rumba cat". It's very cute, but the motor is overloaded and there are safety issues, so it's not official by the manufacturer.

Video: From YouTube

SLAM method adopted to improve cleaning efficiency

The basic part of the Roomba algorithm has not changed from 2002 to the "800" series in 2014, and it has evolved in the form of brushing up. continuing. As mentioned above, the elimination of the room size button is one of the evolutionary points.

Roomba Discovery (2004), which eliminates the need to specify room size, Roomba Scheduler (2005) with scheduling function

The 500 series (2007) was a big hit all over the world with a single button. Popular in Japan through word of mouth. The weight increased dramatically from the previous 2.9kg to 3.7kg, and the contents were also significantly changed.

The basic behavior of Roomba is to try to grasp the size of the room while cleaning for the first 10 minutes. First, start with a turn, grasp the space without obstacles, run along the wall, and when you hit it, repeat the movement of turning again. In the process, parameters are acquired. However, until the early models of the "500" series, there was a problem that when it got under the chair, it repeatedly hit the legs of the chair and it was difficult to come out.

This problem was solved by the high-speed response process "iAdapt" adopted from the "700" series.

Continue reading "The evolution of Rumba is 'quite amazing!'"

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