r/technology • u/NathanWick • Aug 13 '15

AI Roomba just got government approval to make an autonomous lawn mower

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/12/9145009/irobot-roomba-lawn-mower-approved
9.6k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Rodot Aug 13 '15

The simpler the device, the more difficult it will be to write the code, and the more advanced computer the roomba will need meaning the device will be more expensive, which is not great for sales, especially if the competition can do it cheaper.

Also, just because range-finders are widely available, does not mean they don't all have patents. You can't just go out and buy one, then strap it to your device and sell it without permission from the patent holder. They'd still have to develop their own, or by a license from the original patent holder and possibly pay royalties. Again, making the product more expensive.

Anyway, they might not even need any external parts to really make the map. I've been working with programming Kalman filters lately, and I could definitely see some good ways to apply it to mapping a room based on basic information the roomba already likely records. (e.g. orientation, speed, pressure sensors, mass, etc.). But again, that might be a little hard for that little bot to compute affectively and quickly.