Many people who have pets are worried about the amount of hair loss. However, even if you want a robot vacuum cleaner that automatically cleans the room, it may be the pet's "coarse phase" that hesitates to introduce it. I don't want to imagine what kind of disaster would happen if a robot vacuum cleaner runs over a poop where a pet has been messed up.

Of course, there is no problem if the household has a proper pet toilet, but it would be difficult if the poop that had just stuck to the buttocks fell to the floor.

A robot vacuum cleaner that can be safely introduced even at homes with such pets has appeared. That is the "Rumba j7" series released by iRobot on February 10, 2022.

Roomba j7 (Amazon) Roomba j7 + (Amazon)

■ The latest & top rumba is equipped with "Poop Tech"!

The biggest feature of the Roomba j7 series is that it is the first in the series to be equipped with "Precision Vision navigation" that recognizes objects in front by the camera mounted on the front of the main unit and avoids obstacles.

Obstacles to avoid at this time are pet poops (only for dog or cat solid dung, not fluff, slippers, liquids), cables (headphone cords, power cables), shoes (Slippers), socks, charging station (Rumba j7 series, Braava jet m6). In order to achieve this, he said that he was able to machine-learn and recognize all kinds of poops of dogs and cats. Some toilet makers are developing technology that analyzes images of human excrement and helps determine the health condition of the person, but it seems that these things can also be called "poop tech".

Let's watch a video of how you actually proceed while avoiding poop, cables, socks, etc.

When it recognizes an obstacle, the LED around the button at the top of Roomba glows blue. Cables and socks are relatively close, but it seems that the specifications are such that they are not so close to poop toys. In the video, I made a slight mistake in my eyes and found that the side brush touched the socks, but I almost firmly avoided obstacles.

In another video, I sprinkled coffee powder between obstacles and tested it.

If a poop is detected, it will prevent it from entering from the front, so a little coffee powder will remain, but it is safer than forcibly cleaning and stepping on the poop.

■ Review and "educate" obstacles that you have recognized and avoided on your smartphone app.

By the way, if an obstacle is detected during cleaning, the image will be displayed on the "iRobot Home" app for smartphones (Android / iOS compatible, free) after cleaning, and whether these obstacles should be avoided in the future. It is a mechanism to improve the avoidance rate by giving feedback as to whether it should be avoided temporarily.

The method is as follows.

First, perform a "mapping run" to create a map, name each area such as a room and save it, or set a "no entry area" or "partial cleaning area".

Then start cleaning.

When cleaning is completed, the area cleaned by Roomba and the place where dust was detected are displayed on the map as in the conventional model "Roomba i7" series, but in addition to that, the place where obstacles are detected is It will be displayed like a balloon.

If you tap the message "Cleaning is complete and the dust container is empty!", The icon "Start review" will be displayed along with a photo of the detected obstacle.

When you tap "Start Review", you can select "Temporary obstacles here", "Add restricted area", "No obstacles here", or "Unknown" in each photo. increase. If you select "Temporary obstacles are here" here, you can feed back to the cloud that there were temporary obstacles such as poop.

The main point of this j7 series is that the database is updated by collecting feedback from users all over the world, and the robot itself continues to learn and evolve. The Roomba series is currently sold in more than 60 countries around the world, and the other day, a press release was issued stating that the cumulative sales volume of more than 40 million units (including the Brava series of floor cleaning robots) has been achieved from the first model. .. Of course, at present, only j7 series users accept feedback, but because Roomba has so many users, it is expected that it will evolve with feedback from users in the future.

Roomba j7 (Amazon) Roomba j7 + (Amazon)

■ Not only is the height suppressed and the feeling of oppression disappears, but the calm design is also attractive.

We first introduced the most notable "Poop Tech", but we cannot overlook the evolution of design.

The Rumba series comes with a "clean base" that sucks the dust in the dust container inside the main body and discharges it to the paper pack from the Rumba i7 + (also included in the Rumba i3 + released after that), but the height It is about 49 cm (width 31 cm x depth 40 cm), and when placed in a room, it had a presence or oppression.

In the case of Roomba j7 +, the installation area is almost the same as the width 31 cm and the depth 39 cm, but the height is 34 cm, which is 15 cm lower, so I got the impression that the feeling of oppression was considerably reduced. The width of the clean base became wider instead of lowering the height, but since the width of Roomba itself was originally wider, I do not feel the impression that it has become larger. On the contrary, the spare paper carton can be stored in the lid of the clean base, so I got the impression that only convenience was improved.

In terms of design, the surface has been changed from the conventional relatively glossy surface to a matte finish, and the orange leather pull tab on the clean base lid and the corrugated finish on the clean base surface make it feel calm. It's finished.

■ We also carry out "Pet Owner Anshin Guarantor" that is okay even in the unlikely event!

The latest model of this time is said to be a self-confident work of iRobot that combines the robot technology cultivated so far with the obstacle recognition / avoidance function by AI. This is supported by the "Pet Owner Anshin Guarantor" system announced this time.

This means that if pet excrement adheres to the Roomba j7 series during cleaning, it will be repaired or replaced free of charge only once within the manufacturer's warranty period.

* If you are using the Roomba j7 series after connecting to the iRobot Home app, the excrement is only solid feces of dogs or cats (not applicable to pills, vomitus, and liquids). Please check the Roomba / Braava Warranty Policy for details.

Of course, when it comes to pets, there are not only poops but also pee. This guarantee system does not support peeing, but I think that it is a very safe service as a pet owner to support even poop alone.

Even if you are not a pet owner, even if your socks or cords are on the floor, they will clean them while avoiding them, so you can rest assured that it is okay if they are a little cluttered. Especially in places with cords, it is not uncommon for Roomba to get entangled and get stuck, so I found it convenient to avoid it without setting a no-entry area.

Roomba j7 (Amazon) Roomba j7 + (Amazon)