Free Shipping. Buy Neato Robotics 945-0235 Botvac Wi-Fi Connected D3 Robot Vacuum Cleaner at Walmart.com.
SENSORS Laser distance sensor for 2D point cloud navigation; optical drop sensor to avoid cliffs; optical proximity sensor for close wall following; Hall effect sensors for boundary marker detection; accelerometer for tilt detection; bump switches for obstacle detection; wheel encoders to assist with telemetry; voltage and current sensors to assist with charging and motor control. ACTUATORS Two drive motors, one brush motor, and one blower for vacuum. POWER 3200 mAh nickel-metal hydride batteries, 60 minutes of operation (depending on floor type).
COMPUTING Custom computing and robot control system. SOFTWARE Custom navigation and control software based on Linux OS. Software upgrades via Web download or USB. Limited API commands published for hobbyists. DEGREES OF FREEDOM (DOF) N/A MATERIALS ABS plastic COST $450 (robot and accessories) STATUS Ongoing WEBSITE. The idea behind Neato was born in a classroom. Joe Augenbraun was a Stanford grad student with an eye on starting a robot company.
He didn't have a specific product in mind and was still looking for that 'great idea' when he met classmates J.B. Gomez and Linda Hirschhorn Pouliot. Gomez had a background in business development and, like Augenbraun, an interest in robotics.
Pouliot was looking to use her manufacturing and product experience to create a start-up focused on products for women. The trio entered Stanford's annual Entrepreneur's Challenge, which required them to develop a business plan for a new company. When they eventually decided to take a look at the emerging market of floor cleaning robots, they weren't impressed. Existing robots used software algorithms that made them move almost randomly, taking far too long to clean. So they set out to develop a better solution: a robot equipped with an intelligent navigation system using lasers and cameras. In 2010, Neato released its first robot vacuum. Today, the concept of a smart laser guidance system is the heart of every Neato robot.
And all over the world, the three classmates' project is working hard so people can have a little bit more free time. ROBOTS is a product of IEEE Spectrum, the flagship publication of the IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology. ROBOTS supports IEEE's mission to advance technology for humanity and the engineering profession, and to introduce careers in technology to students around the world. The foundation for ROBOTS is IEEE's, which was downloaded 1.3 million times and is used in STEM programs all over the world. Please bear with us as we update the content, and feel free to contact us at to update or add your robot!
Additional support for this product comes from IEEE Robotics & Automation Society, IEEE New Initiatives, and IEEE Foundation. To bring all this robotic awesomeness to the next generation of robot inventors and entrepreneurs, we rely on the generous support from companies and individuals who love robots—like you!
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The Good The Neato Botvac Connected is the best-performing robot vacuum we've ever tested. The new Neato app is well-designed and easy to use, and finally brings remote control functionality to the Botvac line.
And it can now be controlled via Amazon's Alexa voice platform. The Bad At $700, it's the most expensive Neato yet - $200 more than the previous generation. We also encountered a few usability quirks during testing. The Bottom Line The Neato Botvac Connected is better at cleaning floors than any other robot vacuum on the market, and it costs less than its app-enabled rival, the iRobot Roomba 980. If you're willing to live without remote controls, you can save some money by sticking with the previous generation of Neatos - but we think this one's worth the splurge. Before smartphones, before the cloud, before the Internet of Things was a thing, there was the robot vacuum. It's a smart-home product that predates the app-centric Gordian Knot of platforms and standards that is the modern connected home.
A robot vacuum's definition of 'smart' is simply to clean the cat hair off of your rugs without tumbling down the stairs in the process. At least, it was. Now, a new crop of app-enabled 'smart' robot vacuums is navigating into the picture, including the Wi-Fi-equipped Neato Botvac Connected. Pair it with its app on your Android or iOS device, and you'll be able to start, schedule, and even steer it right from your phone - a welcome addition for a brand that, across all of its models to date, has yet to offer a remote control with any of its cleaners.
At $700 (or £549 in the UK), the Botvac Connected is Neato's most expensive robot vacuum yet, costing $200 more than its unconnected predecessors in the Botvac D Series. However, it's also $200 less than - and it beat that Roomba in every test we ran.
The same can be said for the app-enabled, which costs $1,000, but never bested Neato. In fact, in the majority of our tests, the Neato Botvac Connected beat out the entire field of robot vacs. It also features a new and improved lithium ion battery, a legitimate step up from the nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries of before. Robot vacuums were brainy to begin with, and I wouldn't blame you for scoffing at the addition of app controls (or the price increase).
But make no mistake: this is the best robot vacuum Neato has ever made, and the best robot vacuum money can currently buy. Design and features The Botvac Connected sticks with the design of the existing line of Botvac models, with only minor tweaks to the color scheme. It's the same, D-shaped cleaner with the same brushrolls, the same accessories, and the same general approach to covering your floors. That approach sends the Botvac out around the perimeter of the room, where it'll feel its way along the walls with a side-sweeping brush to tidy up the edges. From there, it'll use its laser-assisted navigation capabilities to sweep back and forth across the center of the room, nimbly dodging your furniture as it goes.
When it's finished, it'll automatically return to its docking station for a recharge. This long-exposure shot of the Neato cleaning house with a glowstick taped to its head gives you an idea of how it finds its way around. Tyler Lizenby/CNET Those navigation capabilities seem to be somewhat refined in the connected model. Older Neatos were too efficient for their own good, sweeping along the walls and then covering the center of each room in a single back-and-forth pass. In smaller rooms and spaces, the Botvac Connected is more thorough: it sweeps the center of the room in both rows and columns, and edges along the walls multiple times, too. That gives the Neato ample opportunity to pick up any debris it might miss on a single pass, though cleaning runs take a little longer as a result.
I'm fine with that trade-off - if the Neato is doing its thing while I'm away at work, I want it to take all of the time it needs. Here's a time-lapse of that pet hair test. Most cleaners have a pretty easy time with it on hardwood floors. — Ry Crist (@rycrist) Also new with the connected Neato: cleaning modes.
In addition to the default, full-powered 'Turbo' mode, you can now flip over into a power-saving 'Eco' mode, too. You'll lose a little bit of suction power, but cleaning runs won't drain the battery as quickly, and the Neato will run a little quieter, too. You can switch between modes or set up scheduled cleaning runs by tapping through the settings on Neato's color LCD screen, but if you'd rather not hunch over, you can also just pull up the Neato app on your Android or iOS device. Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNET How about that app? The Neato app is the shiny new addition to the Botvac experience, and a big part of why this vacuum costs $200 more than the previous generation. Thankfully, the app is pretty terrific. It's clean-looking, it's easy-to-use and it works like a charm.
You'll start by activating the Wi-Fi radio on the vacuum itself. It'll broadcast a signal that your smart phone can join up with - from there, you'll jump back into the app, reselect your home Wi-Fi network, and watch as everything finishes pairing up. I got an error message during this last part on my first attempt, but as soon as I started the process again, things instantly synced right up.
A tiny hiccup at best. You can also log on to Neato's website if you want to do more than just give your robot vacuum a name. You can register its serial number, for instance, or save a photo of your proof of purchase. That's a handy way to be prepared in case you ever need to take Neato up on the one-year warranty. Another feature in the app is a manual cleaning mode that'll let you steer the Neato around like a toy car. The controls work well enough, and they might be a lot of fun if you can get your cat to climb aboard. Still, the feature isn't terribly useful for much more than steering the Neato over to a messy spot, then switching it over to the automated spot-cleaning mode.
Despite the clean, easy-to-use interface, the simplicity of the app leaves room for improvement. For instance, you won't find usage statistics that track how long each cleaning run takes (or how much of the battery each one uses). You also won't see the specifics when things go wrong. If the brush is jammed or the robot gets caught on a piece of furniture, the app won't let you know - at best, you'll see the vacuum's status listed as 'error' if something is preventing you from starting a cleaning run remotely. In most cases, you'll still need to hunch over and look at the vacuum's LCD screen to see what that specific error is.