Debunk 13 myths about robot vacuum cleaners on the example of the Yeedi K650

My previous acquaintance with the robot vacuum cleaner ended with the fact that I collected it together with the charging and beacons in a huge bag and threw it in the trash, even forgetting to remove the batteries from the remote control. Since then, I have sworn off addressing the topic of auto-pickers, but time heals, and progress does not stand still. First I bought a window cleaner robot, which strengthened my faith in home robotics, and now I took an interest in testing a robot vacuum cleaner with a wet cleaning function, the Yeedi K650, and... I was surprised: nothing that infuriated me in the first generation of robot vacuum cleaners showed up here. And if you, like me, were burned with the first generations of Roomba (originals or clones), or never touched on this topic at all, let's use the example of the Yeedi K650 to debunk common misconceptions.

1. A robot vacuum cleaner is expensive

Only the products of the American company iRobot are expensive, and the main fleet of home robots is still Chinese devices. Today, a robot cleaner costs about the same as a regular vacuum cleaner, and the Yeedi K650 we are testing is sold on Aliexpress for $ 180, and the parcel does not have to wait - the company has a warehouse in Russia, and brings the order in 2-3 days.

Of course, as in any business, there is a model range of machines: premium robots are equipped with a camera with mapping, and the younger ones are controlled only from the remote control, and have only dry cleaning. As is often the case, once I have tried wet cleaning, I will no longer be able to recommend a model with only dry cleaning. Yes, this is a feature that you need to pay extra for, and it already exists in our price range, which is nice.

2. The robot vacuum cleaner drives the dust around the apartment, but it does not clean itself

The first generations really worked this way because of the weak air injection motor and cheap filters. In modern Yeedi models, this parameter is 2000 Pa, but of course a regular home vacuum cleaner is 10-11 times more powerful. But the advantage of the robot is that it will not get tired of driving through the same place 10 times, collecting dust in its container. Run it three times in a clean room - and each time it will fill the garbage compartment with dirt. Of course, it does not ram it due to low power, but it compensates for this parameter with diligence.

Fine dust is collected in a container, and the hair and wool are wound on the roller of the turbo brush, and then carefully cut off with the included knife. As for carpets, robots usually have a turbo brush with lint on the bottom, and Yeedi additionally comes with a lint-free rubber brush, from which you do not need to tear off the hair and long hair of animals. In general, modern robot vacuum cleaners clean very well.

3. Wet cleaning rubs dirt on the floor

The secret of wet cleaning robots is in the microfiber cloth and the design of its wetting. The first models did not have a water container at all, cheap robots have a simple tank from which water flows by gravity to the rag, and models such as the Yeedi K650 in the water tank have a pump for uniform wetting of the fabric. The dust collection unit can be combined with a water supply container, like the Yeedi K650, or can be installed independently. Neither design has any fundamental advantages or disadvantages, because in any case, even with wet cleaning, the vacuum cleaner will collect dirt in a container, which then needs to be emptied.

Of course, he does not rub as much as a person with his hands, but footprints on the parquet and spilled coffee on the laminate will overcome at once. By the way, the manufacturer recommends that when filling the water tank, add a little antiseptic to prevent the appearance of microorganisms on the surface of the tank. Well, at least you need to remember that a small, very gentle pump is installed inside, and it is better to add water from the filter.

4. The robot vacuum cleaner is very tedious to clean from hair and wool

This is true only for the first cleaning of the house, and if you do it daily, according to a schedule, when you are at work, then this problem goes away from the second cycle. Almost all modern vacuum cleaners are equipped with a brush with a hair cutter, which makes it easy to free the turbo brush from dirt.

The design of the containers themselves is different for different vacuum cleaners: somewhere they are removed from the top from under the false lid, and at the Yeedi K650-at the back of the case, a water tank is removed, combined with an enlarged 800-ml garbage container. The latches, of course, are weak, but they promise that they will not break :)

Of course, compared to a home vacuum cleaner, from which you just took out a bag, threw it out, put a new one-and in battle, there is more trouble here, but the more often you clean, the less often you will clean the vacuum cleaner itself. But what exactly haunts all automatic cleaners from year to year is the unassembled front wheel, on the shaft of which the hair is wound, which is then very difficult to tear off.

5. The robot vacuum cleaner does not clean carpets well

But if a conventional vacuum cleaner cleaning process is due to a powerful vacuum on the bell, the robot vacuum cleaner uses a different approach-a rotating brush, on which it winds wool and hair, as well as raises the dirt under the air intake of the pump.

In expensive models of robot vacuum cleaners, you can show the robot on a virtual map of your home where the carpet is laid and where the surface is smooth. The Yeedi K650, like all mid-range robots, can't tell the difference between carpets and laminate, and happily pours water on both surfaces. As a result, he does not choose highly ingrained dirt crumbs, it is useless to use it against stains, even with a carpet cleaner.

6. The robot vacuum cleaner constantly bangs its head against the walls

This is partly true, but modern robot vacuum cleaners are equipped with either lidars, as in the Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo 900, or proximity sensors, as in the Yeedi K650. The robot sees the bright walls, white pipes and doors and manages to brake in front of them to turn around.

The robot, equipped only with proximity sensors, ignores dark surfaces, as well as human legs, and turns around, gently poking.

7. The robot pulls in wires, small toys, things

Yes, this problem is still not solved even in the most expensive models of cleaners. The fact is that the cleaner does not notice large objects under the robot's bumper, and easily gets stuck on them. The Yeedi K650 tries to gradually turn back, but it does not always work out. The most common obstacle, sneakers, the robot just runs over. He either moves the wires, too, or drags them around and then throws them away. The Yeedi K650 cannot pull the plug out of the socket.

As you can see in the video, the robot copes perfectly with typical obstacles, but the sock can be pulled inside, where it will get stuck.

8. The robot may fall down the stairs

Generally since the very first models of vacuum cleaners, manufacturers have installed tipping sensors in them. Technically, they are a conventional infrared proximity sensor, two of which stand on the front and two on the sides. This does not give a one-hundred-percent guarantee against falling down the stairs, but I did not manage to drop the Yeedi K650 from the table.

9. The robot is constantly stuck in corners

Well, not constantly, but you should keep in mind that the height of the product is only 3.1 inches (7.8 cm), and it easily fits under IKEA's furniture, and under ordinary nightstands. The Yeedi K650 only gets stuck in difficult conditions, such as on the edge of a carpet in a sharp corner of a wall. In this case, it stops, says in a voice that it is stuck, and sends a notification to the phone.

10. Notification? A voice? Are they talking?

Already in 16 languages, y. Gone are the days when the robot sawed and was controlled only from the remote control. Today, it is a full-fledged member of the Internet of Things: it connects to Wi-Fi (a network with a 2.4 GHz band is supported), and is managed via the "cloud" using a mobile app. That is, you can manually run it from anywhere in the world, there would be an internet connection.

Many robot vacuum cleaners have well-thought-out algorithms of movement, as well as manual control forward/backward. The Yeedi K650 has none of this, and there are only three cleaning algorithms: passing along the walls, cleaning in a spiral and moving like a snake. I was missing a simple "forward/backward", for example, to manually kick it out from under the bed, where it has a home port.

11. Robots do not find the base station well

It looks like the base station emits a radio signal that the robot uses to find it. If a small apartment has a docking station in the kitchen, and the robot is in the bedroom, then most likely the Yeedi K650 will go straight through the door and go to the dock. But if the robot is two rooms away from the BS, then it no longer sees it, and just stops, sending you a message on the phone about its helplessness.

For ordinary urban apartments, the docking capabilities of the Yeedi K650 will be quite sufficient, but for large houses, you should definitely choose models with cartography and lidar.

12. Battery-powered beacons are used to restrict rooms

No, this problem has long been solved: in expensive models with programmable navigation, the cleaning boundaries are set programmatically, and in the Yeedi K650, overhead magnetic tapes are used to restrict the movement of the machine, very cheap, which can be purchased on Aliexpress.

13. The main myth: A robot vacuum cleaner is a useless toy

Not for a long time: today it is a really working machine that really performs its function of cleaning the room. Along with the dishwasher and washing machine, the robot vacuum cleaner is ready to become a measure of the comfort of a modern home.

It is not necessary to overpay for the American models of the company iRobot, because the Chinese counterparts of the type Yeedi K650, easily cope with their functions. So you can safely order a robot vacuum cleaner on Aliexpress, give it to your loved ones, unloved, subordinates and superiors - it's time to forget about manual cleaning of the apartment.

Michael Degtjarev (aka LIKE OFF)
18/04.2021