Xiaomi announces Mi Robot Vacuum

Xiaomi has announced a new product today as part of the Mi Ecosystem product, Mi Robot Vacuum. Mi Robot Vacuum works on an in-house developed Laser Distance Sensor while scanning surrounding 360 degrees 1800 times per second. The robot comes equipped with 12 sensors including Laser Distance Sensor (LDS), ultrasonic radar sensor, cliff sensor, gyroscope and accelerometer. The in-house developed LDS works similar to laser guiding system on self-driving cars with three dedicated processors. Allwinner ARM Cortex quad-core, STMicroelectronics ARM Cortex co-processor and Texas Instruments LDS image processor for real-time mapping and positioning of the robot. The robot uses Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) to calculate the path for cleaning the area optimally. The robot can be controlled and monitored to check the cleaning progress, path and set cleaning schedules, remotely using the Mi Home app. The vacuum is powered by a powerful brushless DC motor functioning at 1800Pa of air pressure. The main brush around the entire robot can adjust its height,creating tightly sealed vacuum area to pick up the dirt on uneven surfaces. The machine is also equipped to clean near walls without bouncing off as it maintains 1 cm distance from walls for side brushes. It comes with a 5200mAh battery and can clean the house for 2.5 hours. Mi Robot is priced at 1699 RMB which is around Rs 16,992 at the time of writing. There is no word on the availability of the robot but it sure won’t be as complex as Mi Mr Robot.