Around The Home

Roomba j7 uses a camera to recognize objects – including pet waste

Roomba j7 uses a camera to recognize objects – including pet waste
The Roomba j7 packs a headlight-equipped visible light camera
The Roomba j7 packs a headlight-equipped visible light camera
View 3 Images
The Roomba j7 packs a headlight-equipped visible light camera
1/3
The Roomba j7 packs a headlight-equipped visible light camera
The Roomba j7+ model comes with a Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal docking station
2/3
The Roomba j7+ model comes with a Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal docking station
The Roomba j7 knows to avoid charging cords
3/3
The Roomba j7 knows to avoid charging cords
View gallery - 3 images

Ever since the first iRobot Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner was introduced, successive models have offered additional features. The new Roomba j7 is particularly interesting, however, in that it uses a visible light camera to identify and avoid obstacles … such as dog and cat poop.

Announced this Thursday (Sept. 9), the j7 incorporates what iRobot calls PrecisionVision Navigation technology. This is combined with the company's iRobot Genius 3.0 Home Intelligence system, an AI upgrade that is available to all Roomba models.

Utilizing the camera/AI combo, the j7 "gets smarter with each use," as it memorizes the layout of every room, including the location of obstacles such as furniture. When it initially encounters such an obstacle, it takes a photo and transmits it to an accompanying app. The user can then check that image on the app, and instruct the j7 to subsequently avoid or clean around the object.

Additionally, the j7 is able to actually recognize both charging cords and pet feces on sight, avoiding both – the cords could get mangled if sucked up, while the feces would make a big mess of the inside of the vacuum. In fact, the company claims that it will replace any j7 that fails to avoid solid pet waste.

The Roomba j7+ model comes with a Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal docking station
The Roomba j7+ model comes with a Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal docking station

Some of the features that are added via Genius 3.0 include a Clean While I'm Away function, in which the user's smartphone triggers the robot to begin cleaning only once they've left the house; Cleaning Time Estimates, in which the app lets users know how long it will take to clean a given room; and Quiet Drive, in which the j7 turns off its vacuuming system when moving from room to room, in order to keep the noise down.

The Roomba j7 is now available in Europe, the US and Canada, priced at US$650 – a wider rollout should take place next year. There's also a fancier j7+ model, which automatically empties its vacuumed-up dirt, pet hair, etc into an included Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal docking station – it sells for $850.

Source: iRobot

View gallery - 3 images
3 comments
3 comments
guzmanchinky
I have a picture you don't want to see, of my Roomba after it ran over my dog's poop and did an amazing job of spreading it all over the apartment. From a scientific perspective it was actually really beautiful, you could see exactly how they programming of the vac worked in a smelly, brown modern art kind of way...
Dan Lewis
It's not the 'solid pet waste' that's the problem. It's the wet goopy stuff that the machine can fling about, never mind what goes on inside the machine.
Nelson Hyde Chick
Just avoid the poop?! It would be best if it could clean the poop up, maybe a Rumba pooper picker upper is in the works, hopefully?