{"id":34621,"date":"2021-03-20T19:33:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T23:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dougbardwell.com\/db\/?p=34621"},"modified":"2021-03-20T20:01:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-21T00:01:32","slug":"caution-the-robots-are-coming-obtw-thats-a-good-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dougbardwell.com\/db\/caution-the-robots-are-coming-obtw-thats-a-good-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Caution: The Robots Are Coming \u2026 OBTW, That\u2019s A Good Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We had resisted the urge of jumping into the use of robot vacuums for many years, but the S7 by Roborock<\/a> seemed to actually have the right combination of benefits to actually entice us. Not only does it vacuum, but it mops as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roborock S7 is truly intelligent<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like many home automation products, you have the power of cleaning in your pocket \u2013 with an app for your smartphone that is.  The Roborock S7 uses LIDAR navigation and sensor array technology to plot and follow its path.  I can\u2019t claim to fully understand the technology but I can attest to the fact that after zigging its way all around our house, it knew exactly how to find the shortest route back to the charging station and recharged itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adding human intelligence to AI (artificial intelligence)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Granted, the S7 is smart enough to do the whole house with just one tap of the power button, but with the smartphone app, it can accomplish so much more.  You can create \u201crooms\u201d and set different cleaning attributes to each; depending on floor type, carpet pile heights, etc.  You can also create \u201czones\u201d and do an entire zone while avoiding everything else, like we do for the rooms that we use the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can also create \u201cinvisible walls\u201d that the vacuum won\u2019t pass.  This is ideal at night, when we want the S7 to do the living room, dining room, entry hallway, and kitchen, but we don\u2019t want it to come down the bedroom hallway while we are sleeping. It takes about 5 seconds to set up the \u201cwall\u201d in the app and set the S7 off on its limited cleaning area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also simply tell your friend \u201cAlexa\u201d to ask Roborock to clean. That\u2019s really cleaning without lifting a finger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roborock S7 vacuums with quick, quiet efficiency<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sure, you can hear the Roborock when it\u2019s vacuuming, but it\u2019s quieter than any other vacuum we\u2019ve ever used over our 50 years of housekeeping.  You can actually have a conversation while it\u2019s vacuuming. But why bother, we just set it to vacuum when we go to bed, and we wake to a clean floor. Next best thing to a genie in a bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the vacuum performs quite well.  When starting it for the first time, it proceeded to plot our entire floorplan as it first went around the perimeter walls and then back and forth in 10\u2019 by 10\u2019 sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was amazing to me was how persistent it was in trying to cover all the floor it possibly could. For instance, it could only go about 8 inches under our sleeper sofa, before encountering the bed frame., but that didn\u2019t deter it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Each time it encountered our four Hitchcock chairs, it would go as far as it could before getting deterred by the table pedestal bottom beyond.  In and out, it tried to reach every square inch of flooring it could get to. Quite persistent and quite adept at not getting stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our bedroom, it was an even bigger revelation.  We have a storage section at the base of our bed, and there are only two places where it was tall enough to actually get completely under. It found them, stayed under the bed cleaning for a couple minutes, and then tried exiting through the couple other areas that were just a \u00bc\u201d too low.  In each case, I thought it was going to get stuck, but it backed itself up, made a quarter turn and tried again.  After a few minutes, it freed itself and went back to the original entry point, only to continue cleaning and heading on to the closet area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There was hardly anything that it couldn’t negotiate, including running up and over a thick glass chair mat in my office, and a 3\/8″ transition strip between our kitchen and hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If it would have been me, I would have cried \u2018foul\u2019 many times and demanded a little help, but the S7 continued along undeterred.\u00a0 You would have thought it was a robot or something.\u00a0 Oh, wait\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n