How Robot Vacuums Navigate?

Have you ever been curious about how robot vacuum cleaners always know where to go? It isn’t magic, or even supernatural. It’s the peak of cleaning tech that makes these little devices so good at learning your home’s layout and cleaning when you're out. 

Embark on a fascinating journey through the world of robot vacuums, where cutting-edge sensors, cameras, and algorithms come together to remove every speck of dirt and dust on your floors. At Robot Specialist, we’ll help you discover how these ingenious devices use advanced technology to navigate around furniture, dodge obstacles, and meticulously clean every nook and cranny of your home. 

We'll explore the sensors that guide their movements, the cameras that map your rooms, and the algorithms that turn data into precise paths for optimal cleaning. 

Whether you're a tech enthusiast or want to know how your new robot vacuum cleaner works, this deep dive will unveil the incredible innovation that transforms robotic vacuums into modern marvels.

Understanding Infrared Sensors

The first thing to understand is that every robot vacuum cleaner navigates using lasers. Lots of lasers - not the kind you might find in a 007 scene, but infrared ones. 

These infrared lasers are vital for a robot vacuum to understand where it is and where objects are around it. But a robot vacuum can have hundreds or even thousands of these infrared sensors, with a few different types: 

Cliff Infrared Sensors

Many vacuum robots have cliff sensors as a safety requirement. Cliff sensors use infrared light, which is reflected from objects, kind of like sonar. The objects then send a signal back to the receiver in the vacuum so it knows to stop or change direction. 

If the vacuum does not receive a signal from the ciff sensors, it will change the path. This will prevent your vacuum from falling off the staircase.

Wall Sensors

These sensors use infrared light to detect walls and then can clean along the boundaries with side brushes. The robot vacuum will do without bumping the walls and making extra noise. 

Obstacle Sensors

When cleaning your home, any vacuum will inevitably come across obstructions from furniture and other things that lie on the floor. Obstacle sensors, which are typically placed on a vacuum's bumpers, will guide it through the obstacles with ease. 

Role of Cameras and Visual Mapping

Camera-Based Mapping

This technology uses a digital camera that maps your household by taking photos of landmarks around the house. While this technology maps well, it does not work in the dark. However, some manufacturers are beginning to add a source of light to some types of robot vacuum cleaners. 

Lidar-based Mapping

Lidar is an invisible spinning laser that detects information. It collects data on the room's size and obstacles, such as table legs, chairs or lost toys at the laser level. It starts by mapping the house, and cleaning it systematically in straight lines using the information it has gathered. 

Lidar technology is the most precise at mapping and has accurate navigation compared to many of the others, thanks to the speed at which it rotates. 

Gyroscope or Accelerometer Mapping

Gyroscope and accelerometer sensors calculate the distance and direction of objects around the house.

The vacuums that use this technology are affordable. However, these sensors do not create a precise map and do not navigate as well as vacuum robots that use lidar and camera-based technologies.

Adaptive Learning and Smart Pathing

Robot vacuums adaptively learn and create smart paths through algorithms. These technologies enable them to map your home's layout so it gets better every time. 

The sensors detect furniture and walls, while the cameras capture real-time data to update the vacuum's map. Using this information, the onboard algorithms adjust the cleaning path to navigate efficiently. 

Over time, the robot vacuum learns from repeated cleaning sessions, refining its paths to be more efficient, ensuring no area is missed, and creating a personalised and intelligent cleaning experience tailored to your home. It can even detect different surface types (wood, tiles, carpet etc. and switch accordingly! 

A robot vacuum cleaner that has mapped out your home also offers another advantage: The detailed map allows the vacuum to remember high-traffic areas that require more frequent cleaning, ensuring thoroughness.

This advanced technology enables the vacuum to detect multiple surfaces, such as carpets, hardwood, and tiles, adjusting its cleaning methods accordingly. 

Specialised devices can increase suction power on carpets for a deeper clean while gently vacuuming hardwood floors without causing scratches. 

The map allows it to distinguish between different areas, enabling features like zone cleaning or the ability to avoid no-go zones.

And there you have it, all the bells and whistles a premium robot vacuum cleaner uses to help you clean without lifting a finger. To learn more, get in touch with our team!

For everything else to do with robot vacuum cleaners, reach out to our amazing customer service that provides support every step of the way. Pop into our store at Cheltenham, Victoria to try one of these amazing devices yourself and see how they work in action!