The evolution of ASCII Club Rumba is "soberly amazing!"

The final form is “Erase Existence” ─ see the evolution of cleaning technology

Updated at 16:00 on October 27, 2016

Written by Yuki Hayashi (@necamax) Edited by Ryo Morita

The evolution of consumer technology will eventually lead to self-destruction no matter what route it takes. 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.

There is no change in the basic algorithm, but it is like improving the ability to judge the situation. The time required to determine that "The Roomba itself hit an obstacle in succession. This is a chair" has been improved. So far, we can see the form aimed at improving cleaning efficiency, but we will see another big change from the "900" series released in 2015.

Roomba 700 Series (2011). Equipped with high-speed response process "iAdapt"

The 900 series doesn't seem to have changed in appearance, but the change in the contents is noticeable. Although the fast-response process is newly labeled "iAdapt 2.0 Visual Localization," the behavior has been fundamentally changed.

The previous Roomba generated cleaning routes by statistical calculation, but from the 900 series, the Roomba itself performs mapping while estimating its own position, and grasps the places that have not been cleaned. Localization and Mapping” (SLAM) method.

With the adoption of the same method, in addition to encoders and various sensors, gyro, floor tracking sensors, etc. are installed. The encoder built into the tire measures the distance, and the gyro confirms the direction of travel. The floor tracking sensor has the same mechanism as an optical mouse, and can check the moving speed and course direction. It was a specification that could be cross-checked for accurate mapping.

Roomba 900 series (2015). Evolved "iAdapt" with a camera sensor

With this kind of sensing and the "bumper sensor" adopted from the first Roomba, we first create a map of the room, check the current position, and proceed to clean the entire area. However, since this alone cannot cover a wide area, it was decided to install a camera. The role of this camera is interesting.

Designed with hacking in mind

In order to realize SLAM, we initially considered installing a laser range scanner to irradiate a laser 360 degrees on the horizontal axis and accurately measure the distance. However, I ran into a cost issue. There was some trial and error, such as shooting images of the ceiling, but what users wanted was not a robot with extremely high SLAM accuracy, but a robot that cleaned efficiently. That's where a camera that always looks forward comes in handy.

Since the encoder, gyro, and floor tracking sensor alone will inevitably cause deviations, the Roomba uses a camera to extract corners and high-contrast parts of the image and hit a singular point. This is used as a mark to improve the accuracy of self-localization.

The 900 series is equipped with a camera sensor and hits singular points such as the corners of the room

The 900 series mapping (Video: iRobot). My eyes are drawn only to the place where the mapping is progressing steadily, but if you look closely, there are black dots. This is the singularity that Roomba acquired

For this reason, the 900 series sometimes moves back a little, shakes the camera left and right to check the position, and returns to cleaning again.

iRobot is originally strong in perception, and it is said that it has high accuracy in human body recognition, which is difficult to detect. By using this, it is possible to recognize where something is in the room, so it is possible to automatically clean up to 112 tatami mats.

The "Brava 300" series of cleaning robots uses "iAdapt 2.0 Cube Navigation", which is different from the same process. This is not a camera, but a mechanism that corrects the position by receiving the infrared rays that the attached "North Star Cube" irradiates the ceiling with the infrared unit of the main unit.

Irobot's multi-purpose robot "AVA" used in medical settings was equipped with a SLAM function using a laser range finder.

Also, when the domestic support team saw the specs with the 900 series cameras, they were worried about security. This is because if hacked, the cameras will show everything in the room, and the mapping data will tell you where things are.

However, the data captured by the actual device is deleted immediately, leaving only the singularity, and even if there is a Wi-Fi connection function, the camera image and mapping data are not sent to the network. Since they were able to confirm the internal security at the board level, they are not worried about that point.

Although I digress, if you think about what happens to cleaning robots in the smart home, they are in a position to move around the house and keep track of the location of each product. Considering security, it is more convenient to be able to manage home appliances independently from the network. Therefore, once we reach the stage where various security issues and barriers to connection standards can be resolved, we can imagine that cleaning robots will naturally rise to the position of giving instructions to each home appliance.

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