Hi, I have a Neato X11 which is extremely efficient, so by so that I have to empty the dustbin every day. As the house is fitted with a central vacuum I was thinking to let the central vacuum connect to the Neato while charging and suck its bin empty.
The Neato’s dustbin is accessible from the top and it should be possible to create and entry point for the central vac. apart from the connections et al one will need some sensors to dock the pipes and activate the central vac.
As I’m not a electronics or robotic expert I was hoping that somebody can assist me in designing such a unit. I will build it myself.
thanks
Hi, I would be interested in this too. Any updates on this topic??
Thanks
K cool, that sounds like a plan. I was looking at the Neato XV-21, probably gonna pick one up soon, the only thing holding me back was the lack of an automatic duct bin emptying feature. Maybe this could work. Thanks!!! On a side note (don’t know if I should post this in a different topic), I just saw on your site today that the XV-25 is coming out soon. What are the differences for the XV-21 and XV-25.
Thanks
Oh ok, no I am in canada, in montreal actually close to your headquarters lol. For some reason I couldn’t click on the link I found on your site to check the details, thats why I asked.
Have you had any problems with the XV-21, I am leaning more towards this robot as I have a dog that sheds 365 days a year. Is this the robot you would suggest?? I have a cottage (2 floors and a basement) where it is approx. 700 sq ft per floor. What would you recommend?
It needs to have:
- Scheduling
- Charging Base
- Able to deal with pet hair
- Minimal Maintenance
Thanks
How much would you like to automate exactly? Would you like the vacuum to somehow find a hole in the Neato Dustbin, automatically insert the tube and then turn on? Alternatively, would you insert the central vacuum hose yourself, then turn it on? Can you provide some additional details as to how you foresee the setup and also your background in robotics?
Since there is no “production” solution, one option would be to connect the hose to an actuator, which pushes it into a hole in the dust bin. There would be a one-way valve (properly sealed) which the hose would push open. You could control the whole thing with one small microcontroller.
1 - Design an entry point for the hose, and also the one-way valve (held tight with a spring perhaps)
2 - Drill the correct sized hole into the top of the bin
3 - Design a small system to have the hose lowered onto the hole (perhaps an L16 linear actuator?) This would also force the cover open. A U-shape made out of wood would probably work well.
4 - A microcontroller would wait for a sensor to be tripped, or for current to be flowing to the charger, then wait a second before lowering the hose and turning it on for a predetermined time.
There are no differences between the XV-21 and the XV-25 except for the plug on the power supply.
The XV-21 is the North-American model and the XV-25 is the European model. Although the XV-25 is not available just yet, it will take about 8-10 weeks to receive these according to the information we have at the moment.
If the wait is too long, we would suggest purchasing the XV-15 along with the pet and allergy upgrade kit. This will give you the same robot as the XV-25 just with a different color.
If you are in Europe, we would not recommend purchasing the XV-21 from our US or world websites, considering that if you have a problem, the robot will need to be shipped back to Canada or USA for servicing.
The XV-21 would definitely be a good choice for your environment. The new pet brush works great with pet hair. But, you must remember to clean it frequently for the robot to keep cleaning at peak performance.
It should be able to clean one floor on one cleaning cycle. You can always move the robot to different floors to clean on different days.
