• Looking for ways to keep my old one running as long as possible. it’s that roboroc xiaomi platform and it has been supper easy to get spare parts. I replaced entire wheel sections batteries and such.

    There is a software that replaces the Xiaomi app and that would be the next project.

    No need to phone home to china all the time.

  • As time goes on I’m hoping more products like this that give what was once only possible via locked down proprietary software a new open and repairable life as theres many new products and tech that I see but could never use unless I’d want to just upload everything I do to whoevers servers and pray that they don’t get breached.

    • https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/

      The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts. We’re developing open source industrial machines that can be made at a fraction of commercial costs, and sharing our designs online for free.

      • 6 hours

        okay I clicked quite a few of those, And afaict, only the house is past the “planning” stage

  • github
    A user you’ve blocked has previously contributed to this repository.
    look inside
    claude
    click insights
    Top 3 committers is: some org account, another org account but with “.ai” in it, claude

    EDIT: they are not only the top 3 committers, they are the only 3 committers

    EDIT0: repo is all screenshots and markdown files, another one has a trivial amount of code also written with ai

    • Thank you for saving me the time I would have wasted getting excited about this

      • Well there is nothing to be excited about, the entire repo is empty with only a bunch of readme files. Zero code has been written ai or not.

      • 9 hours

        It’s open source. Feel free to write your own software, or pay someone to do it for you.

        • “Here is a beautiful piece of art. You say it’s just a blank piece of paper? Please feel free to draw your own art on it, and then it will be as I said.”

          I know the real news here is the hardware, but it is still funny…

          • 6 hours

            The thing is… it’s not blank. It’s painted, but someone complains no that the art is bad, but that they don’t like how it was painted. Well, nobody is forcing you to look at it, you can even paint it yourself.

      • Don’t use any operating systems and most major websites then because theyre all using a coding agent now. It’s just the way the industry is going at the moment

        edit: Linux uses Claude copilot ffs. It needs to be noted as an AI contribution and needs human review but Linux and Windows definitely use AI coding agents and I guarantee Apple does too. Be in denial all you want. I’m not advocating for them, I’m stating the reality of the industry right now.

    • I don’t see that as a problem. A vacuum cleaner isn’t critical infrastructure and shouldn’t be connected to the internet, so no security concerns. Worst case scenario it ruins your carpet. Majority of the work here will be done on hardware side it seems.

      • 7 hours

        There’s 0 code thus far. What “code” does exist is all just readme.md for various ros modules. Getting upset about the guy using ai seems a little premature.

        • There’s another repo with a Docker file and that was all written with Claude too for some reason. Though I don’t see why in the ever living fuck this would need Docker.

          Also, why are we even getting excited over a vacuum cleaner existing as a pile of markdown files talking about it? There are lots of these, actually.

          • 2 hours

            Not sure what’s up with docker.

            I understand some excitement though. Initially reading this I thought it was a more mature project that it is and something like this that’s fully open source would be a nice change from all the projects that talk about replacing firmware but then turn out to run on one version of hardware that hasn’t been sold in at least five years.

        • 6 hours

          They don’t have any code yet but 3 slopgen accounts are already connected. It’s worse, it’s actually worse.

    • Yep, everyone updoot this so the ones who come after can stop reading at the top comment.

    • So? The repository is empty did you even check it. There is no code in it at all.

      • 6 hours

        And 3 accounts are already “contributing”. That’s not better. It’s worse.

  • I just want one where the storage the vac empties out into is on the side so it can slide under a couch.

    These things take so much damn space and for some reason they didn’t figure out there is a bunch of real estate underneath shit.

    • 9 hours

      Delete this comment, sell idea to a company, profit! But in all seriousness this is a smart idea.

  • 10 hours

    While this is a cool idea, if you read the article, it’s only an idea. Seems like nothing but a reference design has actually been made. Hoping to see it progress, but we shall see.

    • Yeah, over the years I’ve learned to not hold my breath about any interesting announcement. Though I’m at the point now where I don’t really care either way and feel like pointing it out for any specific project just feels overly pessimistic. Just let them cook or contribute knowing there’s never a guarantee it’ll come to fruition.

  • I’m good with this. I actually want a smaller unit for my home office specifically.

    so large enough to cover around 200-ish sqft.

    • 3real5me…the amount of time and money needed to make even simple projects robust and truly usable, and not just a janky DIY job that needs to be used in just the right way or it’s wonky is always more than you expect. No matter how many times you’ve been through the process.

      • 16 hours

        I tend to consider first attempts/versions as Betas. Sometimes I will do the full alpha, beta, RC cycle

        Freedman has a pretty good video relating to this

        • 7 hours

          Yeah, i mean, that’s just how developing anything works, i think it shuld be something that people have to explain more when they introduce someone to the DIY world, if you expect to finish a product on the first iteration or the first few, you either gonna fail or you have set a low bar

      • 16 hours

        I think my device is easy and intuitive to use. The user wants video instructions and refuses to use my thing otherwise :(

    • I would actually be more interested in custom firmware for our old touch-and-go Roomba. The hardware is great, fully modular, did even survive a round of cat barf and washing. But the firmware is buggy and does inefficient vacuuming rounds.

    • 18 hours

      Ha, let’s hope that doesn’t happen here. This is genuinely exciting.

  • You can tell it’s a genuine high-quality open-source project because the name sucks

  • 10 hours

    the robot vac i have had for 3 years is the dumbest machine. goes over the same areas multiple times a session. has a manual steer setting but if i gotta steer it, whats the point of robotics? finally gave up and got a dust mop.

    • 9 hours

      At the risk of sounding like an ad, roborock (xiaomi) makes fantastic vacuums. Great navigation, great cleaning performance, obstacle avoidance (cables, socks, etc) depends on the model.

      They do offer a meter interface if you want to have it offline, but I’m quite happy with the (cloud based) app, allows a bit more control.

      It integrates with home assistant but it sometimes goes “unavailable”, the matter integration is a bit more stable for that.

      I sure other manufacturers also have great ones, check “vacuum wars” on YouTube.

      • I’ve got to share time on the 3d printer now she’s got the hang of it, we don’t have room for 2. But it’s still great to see!

      • Oh the physical part is all me, she just wants to do the computer stuff lol. But yeah she’s been interested in some projects where she can program and I can build.

    • 15 hours

      I love valetudo!

      But I also think there should be more open source robotics, and a robot vacuum feels the right topic as a starting point.

      I think I also saw someone that wanted to make a robot grass cutter.

    • 20 hours

      As i understand it Valetudo is not actually firmware to control the robot. It is a “parasite” that makes the existing robot firmware belive it is connected to the cloud which is very different from actually controlling and navigating the robot. However, in terms of homeasistant integration it could be worth getting inspired.

      For a control operating system ROS could be something to consider. When I used it 10 years ago the project was quite unstable since tools changed constantly and it was overly complicated to work with, but a lot of development has happened since so maybe worth considering. I wrote this before reading the article

    • Looks pretty cool but a very short list of compatible devices. Also, what they consider “budget options” are not what I would consider “in my price range”. LoL 😂

      • 9 hours

        What is your price range, a button and two shells? The S5 can be found for 50 bucks used.

    • This is why I love foss software. Their is some guy hacking away at some very specific problem in his own time and he shares it with the world for free. You will have never heard of this problem or even contemplated its existence but once u know some foss developer has solved it going back to a world where it doesn’t exist is just a little bit duller.

  • 13 hours

    Awesome project! I would love to buy some robovacs, but I don’t want some unknown entitity mapping our home and whatnot. Our maid would love it too. Being done earlier for the same pay 😁

      • 13 hours

        Oh. Wow. Thanks. Last time I checked the market it was horrible and then I just gave up on robovacs. Too many different to reverse engineer every single one. But great, gonna check this one out deeply. Thanks man.

        • The setup is fairly involved and not super beginner friendly however I finally came across and finished to flash my robot a few weeks ago and i don’t notice any difference vs the stock firmware when using home assistant, beside the fact that its no longer connecting to all these random servers in China. It really is a wonderful project!

          • 9 hours

            Sounds great! Although I less worry about Chinese servers than american servers 😁 I would even be fine if it were shittier then, or totally manual programming or whatever. Just not clouds that get data I know nothing about and have no agency over it.

  • 12 hours

    Awesome project. So cool DIYers can build something like this now (with a lot of help from the project owner)!