History: My life with the Neato Robotics XV-11 vacuum cleaner

Source of version: 10 (current)

::{IMG(src="tiki-download_file.php?fileId=46&display")}{IMG}:: I first bought the XV-11 because: #Roomba had not shown any innovation in the last decade #XV-11 came with some really cool design concepts so I wanted to support an innovative startup Sadly I think I'm doing them more harm than good these days. The number of replacements I've had to get have to be far outweighing my purchase price at this point. So here I offer a list of failure modes of my various Neato robots, in chronological order: #Beater bar motor stopped working #Laser rangefinder stopped working ("RPS error") #Charging contacts melted into the body of the vacuum, preventing further charging #Right wheel became really hard to turn, so the robot couldn't drive #Left wheel became really hard to turn, so the robot couldn't drive #The present robot has melted its contacts. Pictures of both melting incidents below: {IMG(src="tiki-download_file.php?fileId=47&display")}{IMG} {IMG(src="tiki-download_file.php?fileId=48&display")}{IMG} I blame these meltdowns on the new "improved" docking algorithm. The old one was rather rough, and could ram the robot up and over the charge base. The new one is TOO tender, and stops immediately after a single electron is sensed. This doesn't allow the creation of a good mechanical contact between the charge base and the vacuum. __Given the temperatures involved and the proximity to dust/carpet, I'm starting to question the safety of this unit. It could start a fire if it heated the right substances enough.__ It hasn't even been a year yet. It seems to me that Neato Robotics has a serious quality problem. I cannot recommend this unit to anyone given the number of problems I continue to see. Perhaps a version 2 design will do better, if they have enough cash to keep replacing the old design + fund a new revision. That's a big if for a startup, especially when going against an established market leader. On the plus side, when it does work it picks up an inspiring amount of dirt every day. The bin is about 1/3 full after every run. I would like to offer 1 suggestion for a revision 2, should it happen. Please build a wifi card into the next vacuum. The type of people who are likely to buy this thing will likely have wifi APs. The robots can call home for firmware updates, to report health, to report troublesome room geometries, to get help in routing, to self-register for support, etc. A single wifi card could open up a whole world of options for this thing. Trying to perfect the algorithms in the Neato labs is one thing, but getting real-time trouble reports from your deployed fleet changes the game entirely. It's a gold mine of bug reports just waiting to be had. Here's hoping the next replacement is the last one...

---