RobotShop has some gift ideas for your special Valentine this year. With great prices on the Asus E-Clean Enhanced and the Asus E-Clean Mini, you are certain to capture your loved ones’ heart. The special prices start today and end Feb. 15th. Hurry if you would like to get one before Valentine’s Day!
The EC-Mini is the smallest robot vacuum in the industry and with it’s cute design, it is the perfect (geeky) Valentine’s Day gift. At only $130USD this great gift won’t bust your budget.
Asus EC-Mini Robot Vacuum
The EC-Enhanced comes standard with a special fragrance compartment to deodorize and freshen any room it cleans. A red rose scent would suit it well on this special day. This robot can be scheduled for cleaning on all floor types and will clean 400 square feet on a single charge. It is sure to please at only $259USD.
At the time of this post, the MyRobots.com App Store has been live for just over 12 hours and is the first robot-specific App Store to list applications which are ready to buy!
MyRobots.com Robot App Store
The first available applications are intended for use with the iRobot Roomba Vacuums, one of the most widely used robots in the world. All six million Roombas (estimated number of Roombas in the “wild”) can now benefit from these applications which are intended to make full use of the onboard sensors and commands to transform the little cleaning robot in to a telepresence solution.
The Robot App Store is also open for roboticists and developers who would like create, submit and then sell their apps. Current apps are similar to the existing Android and iOS apps that need to be downloaded and installed into a device (a robot in this case). The MyRobots team is still working on creating and supporting apps that run in the cloud, but some hints on the site (such as the cloud icon in the top-right) lead to believe the functionality will be coming soon.
The MyRobots App Store uses RobotShop’s e-commerce platform to handle transactions but it is foreseeable that in the future, transactions will go trough the MyRobots site, giving users a more seamless experience.
It’s the time of the year again to please the Roboticist in your life with geeky robotic gifts. There is so much choice and so many awesome robotic products that it can be difficult to choose the right one , but don’t despair, RobotShop has its Holiday Gift Center filled with Gift Ideas for everybody. We have classified robotics geeks in six categories: Children, Teens, Adults, Mad Scientists, “under $25″, and Pets.
Children
It’s never too early to initiate humans to robotics. Robotic toys are not only fun, educational and original, they also train children to accept their future robot overlords.
Teens need cool gadgets that will get them popularity and boost their self esteem. Since “Geek” is the new “Cool” what can be better than awesome robots and gadgets that will teach them to impress their friends with their new robotic skills. What can be cooler than making your own “Most Useless Machine” or being woken up by a robotic alarm clock? We don’t know but it can probably be found in the Robot Gifts for Teens section.
Adults
Sophisticated people need sophisticated toys tools. They need robots that will help them with their daily tasks in an efficient way so they can concentrate on what really matters (playing with the children and teen toys they bought for their loved ones). It goes without saying that everybody would love to have a robot clean their home, take care of their cat and mow the lawn. Head to the Robot Gifts for Adults section to have all your robotic needs fulfilled.
Pets may not be human but if they are anything like their masters, they want robots as well, especially if they involve lasers! Have your master click on the Robot Gifts for Pets section to see all the robots for pets available.
Today we received a nice heart-warming message from one of our customers, see it below:
I dropped my Roomba a few weeks after I first got it years ago, and broke the IR sensor. (What a newbie – I was holding it by the dustbin). I taped it back on for a few years but eventually it got scraped off and then lost. This month I found your directions on how to disassemble a Roomba (and reassemble it) and I bought a used infrared sensor from you. IT WORKS! It can see again! I can use walls and it can find the dock! Your directions were excellent. The photos were very helpful. I am so happy. It was a nice Thanksgiving evening project and now I am thankful for RobotShop!
- BJ, Oakland
We are always happy to know that the documentation we create and the services we offer are helping people out there live better with their robots. If you want to repair your Roomba like BJ, you can find the documents at the Roomba Resource Center.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers for always being creative with all your projects, patient when things go wrong, and simply awesome in every possible way. It is thanks to you that RobotShop is still here offering you all the parts, the domestic robots, and the toys you ask for. Thank you customers for making RobotShop your place of choice for buying everything robotic.
What are you thankful for in this Thanksgiving? Leave a comment below with your answer.
RobotShop has a Thanksgiving treat for you. If you buy a Neato XV-11 vacuum cleaner between today and November 29th, you will get an automatic 50$ discount. This is a very considerable savings that can allow you to get even more robots!
I know what Canadian readers are thinking: “It is not thanksgiving in Canada, can we get the discount anyway?” The answer is yes! the discount is available to everyone. But you Canadians are special, because now you can order the new Neato XV-12 which is totally white and is only available for Canadian customers.
No matter, now on to the results! Let’s see how it did:
Final Score:
QQ-2 Plus Score Card
The QQ-2 Plus scored a total of 89 points, which places it last in our standings:
champion-chart
Looking at the robot’s scorecard and the scoring criteria, you may have noticed the large discrepancy between the score of the QQ-2 Plus and the other three challengers. It is good to keep in mind that the QQ-2 Plus is a much simpler robot than the others, this made particularly evident by its sale price. At less than half the price of the next challenger, the QQ-2 Plus is a decent robot for what it costs.
More on that later though, as RobotShop breaks down all these results in our next video, where we will discuss and make sense of all this information.
Don’t miss the next installment of the Ultimate Challenge: to keep up-to-date on the Ultimate Challenge and all things RobotShop, subscribe to our Blog and Youtube Channel!
If you were looking for an inexpensive vacuum robot that can get into every corner and go under even the lowest furniture, the Agait E-Clean Mini is definitely a good choice.
Agait E-Clean Mini
Its small size and swiftness are not the only positive aspects of this little robot, its price point being below 150$ is very appealing when compared to the ~600$ vacuum robots. You can see the little bot in action below.
Want to dispute the world smallest vacuum robot title? Leave a message below if you find a smaller one.
iRobot’s newest offering, the 700 series, has been put through the Ultimate Challenge, and we now have the results for the Roomba 780. Being one of the newer robot vacuum cleaners to become available in North America (and now abroad too), these results are quite relevant and useful for consumers. Some wonder “did it beat the Neato Xv-11?”
Another question that comes up: how has the Roomba 780 been improved over the Roomba 560? Whether you prefer XV-11 or Roomba, hopefully you will find these results useful in answering these and other questions. So just how did iRobot’s flagship robot vacuum do? Check it out below:
Final score:
Roomba 780 Scorecard
With a total score of 450, the Roomba 780 surpassed the Roomba 560′s score of 435, as would be expected. Improvements to many features (like battery life and scheduling) helped the 780 stay ahead. Therefore our current standings are:
Champion Chart
While the Roomba 780 outperformed the 560 and its improvements are obvious, the Neato-XV-11 was able to hold off the 780 and maintain its position on top of the leaderboard. This is owing to Neato’s improved navigation and smarts. That being said, the Roomba 780 is still a great robot that cleans well.
If you were at all curious how the Neato XV-11 performed in the RobotShop Ultimate Challenge, then this post is for you. RobotShop has done the tests, compiled the results, and put it all together for you. The findings may (or may not) surprise you. For anyone thinking of buying a robot vacuum cleaner, you should take a look. You can check out how we scored the robot and get the results broken down for Neato, challenge by challenge. But first, let’s actually see some of these tests. Video below:
Neato XV-11′s final score:
Neato Score Card
While the Roomba 560 has been around for a few years and is a proven design, with the exception of a few areas, the XV-11 outperformed the 560. iRobot certainly isn’t out of contention, but the bar has been set pretty high. How the XV-11 will do against the Roomba 780 should be interesting. That being said, our current standings are:
Champion Chart
Stay tuned for our next contender, the iRobot Roomba 780. Now we’ll be the first to admit: The Roomba 780 is certainly nice to look at. But does it have the muscle to match its appearance? We’ll find out soon enough. Expect the next RobotShop Ultimate Challenge installment in two weeks.
European RobotShop customers rejoice! The all-new E.ziclean Revolution by e.zicom is now available for purchase in Europe and should instigate many households to become cleaner and healthier. Will this robot be the first to trigger the Robolution? We don’t know…but it probably will. Seemingly inspired by Che Guevara’s beret, this robot comes in two colours, rebellious-red and bold-black.
e.ziclean Revolution Robot Vacuum with Dock
The E.ziclean Revolution can do systematic cleaning much like the Neato XV-15 and the Navibot, but it remains unclear on how it performs this tasks since no laser, nor a camera are apparent. It probably uses sheer determination, a deep sense of duty, and its very own ideology to fight for its ideal of having all humans live in a systematically cleaned house.
The robot also includes a remote control that allows you to enslave it and force it follow your commands. Nevertheless, this robotic vacuum will probably contest the dictatorship and try to regain autonomy when you least expect it.
If you are tired of conformity and the oppressing rule of dust over your life, give the E.ziclean Revolution a try and start doing your spring cleaning.
