The Samsung Jet Bot AI Plus is a sleek, all-white affair with a robot-like LED eye that glows, indicating what state the vacuum is in.

AI-Driven Bots Are Cleaning Up Houses, Vacuuming Up Dollars in Sales

I purchased an iRobot Rumba a few years ago, and have found it to be very useful. It was the basic version that I turn loose in my house and let it do its job with very little disruption to the household.  However, the new robot sweepers that have been released have come a long way.

There is an interesting competition that writer Jennifer Pattison Touhy published in theverge.com after she put the two of the top autonomous sweepers in her home and let them show their abilities.

Using improved sensors combined with artificial intelligence, the latest crop of bots can now see and recognize everyday household objects and nimbly navigate around them to carry on their merry way. She wrote:

“But is this feature worth splashing out on a top-of-the-line bot for? I put two of the newest to the test — iRobot’s Roomba j7 ($650 for the vacuum, $850 for the j7 Plus version with the auto-empty base) and Samsung’s Jet Bot AI Plus ($1,300 for the bot and base, you can’t buy it separately) — to see if they lived up to their lofty promises.”

Below are images of these new floor toys.

One difference the author pointed out is the iRobot will run across your floor even if it’s cluttered with socks, phone cords, or the occasional dog turd.

Samsung’s Jet Bot AI Plus doesn’t come with the same promise, but its AI-powered 3D Object Recognition technology is backed by an Intel processor and is programmed to discern turds and other common clutter. Gone are the days of the robot grinding animal feces into the carpet. Plus, you can have it check in on your dog throughout the day using the vacuum’s built-in HD camera.

Both robots have an upgrade to intelligent mapping that includes furniture and appliances. This is handy as it means you can tell the robot to go “clean in front of the fridge.” (The Roomba works with the Alexa and Google voice assistants, and the Samsung with both of those, plus Bixby.)

There were several other obvious advantages or disadvantages with each sweeper. It’s a case of each person having their individual way of cleaning. What they expect from their robot is also an individual decision regarding price or special features. And there are plenty of add-ons for each bot that will make you think you bought a rocket ship instead of a floor-sweeping robot.

read more at theverge.com