Oomwoo, an open-source robot vacuum you build yourself

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• Hacker News
• Great, now do a lawn mower!
  by taffydavid
• something that might be up your alley called OpenMower https://github.com/ClemensElflein/OpenMower
  by mrbigbob
• Hi, I'm the guy behind OOMWOO. I just found this post. Let me try replying.

  LLM slop - noted, acknowledged. I'm allergic to LLM slop myself. I'll rewrite the linked post tonight (and the repo over next week or two).

  Hardware is an issue/expensive - respectfully, I have to push back. I've built 6+ robots (ROS2), sourced parts from China (usually AliExpress), designed/manufactured/sold robot PCBs for years. A 2D LiDAR (from old vacuums) off AliExpress costs $15 retail with free shipping to the US. It won't come in a nice retail box, just bubblewrap. Proof - open aliexpress dot us/item/3256807153970373.html. Buying 10 pcs gets me $9/ea. A pair of driving wheel assemblies I just sourced for OOMWOO (wheels, motors, wheels, tires, wheel drop sensors, cabling with connector fit Roborock S4/5/45/50/51/52/55 Max, S7/Pro/MaxV, E4/E5/45/50/55, G10, T7S/S+, S6/60/65 Pure/MaxV, S70/75, Q5/7) cost $24-$33 (the entire pair). Proof aliexpress dot us/item/3256811615892849.html $22.19 + free shipping today. I've just source fans - 10kPa $10 free shipping Dreame aliexpress dot us/item/3256810170666194.html.

  I've visited vacuum cleaner robot ODMs in China. In 1000 MoQ prices drop to a fraction of the retail above. I'd like to build a large community to (someday) get the pricing power, level up from ordering off AliExpress.

  Repo is just text - yes, 3 weeks old, out-of-the-box software development environment (Docker ROS2 based) is in another repo github dot com makerspet oomwoo-install, step-by-step tutorials on makerspet dot com /learn. Pull image, paste CLI commands and simulate OOMWOO in 15 minutes. ROS2 robot description page is another repo makerspet oomwoo-one The PCB will be in yet another repo makerspet oomwoo-io-board, I'll publish it shortly. Open source vac reference 3D design (I did a consumer vac teardown, got it converted to STEP) is remakeai / vacuum_cleaner_teardown .

  3D design not available - correct, not yet. I've got to source parts first. That said, no need to wait. I've hacked an existing consumer vac, connected it to ROS2, practically full control. So, you can develop OOMWOO software, test it on a real vac - while 3D design comes together. That vac setup is included in the oomwoo-install image. Repo - remakeai / vacuum_ros2_bridge. I've written step-by-step tutorials (both physical bringup and Gazebo/ROS2 sim) on makerspet dot com / learn

  Why they didnt use Valetudo - I'm a big fan of Valetudo, Dennis Giese, robotinfo dot dev. I hacked my Dreame L10S and it runs Valetudo. I'd like OOMWOO to be local, no-cloud-require like Valetudo. Valetudo cuts the cloud, doesn't give full direct control (sometimes partial) of vac's motors/sensors/encoders/LiDAR. Example - to fix my vac's SLAM, I need to rip out stock firmware, replace with mine. Not possible with Valetudo.

  Is the point to make a product or not - I'd like to make a product, but not 1st version. I have 6 vacuum robots (all with LiDAR, some expensive), all have problems - pet hair tangling, getting stuck under the bed, stuck on ramp, getting lost, mopping same spot over and over again, chewing up cables, doesn't vacuum under furniture with loose cover (can get under the cover easily, but won't). I'm tired of that, I want to fix those.

  Is this a one person project, vibe coding - I'm a solo tech founder in California with Upwork freelancer team and Claude Code. One freelancer for PCB, one 3D design (he 3D scanned consumer vac teardown into STEP that I just open sourced). One has made Unity sim to batch-generate 2D LiDAR data to train object recognition for OOMWOO. One developed/trained ML recognition to recognize 2D LiDAR point clouds. Two (sourcing/PM) team members in China when I visited.

  Will it be able to take out trash, chat with me by voice - Yes! Just not 1st version. I want OOMWOO to run apps someday - patrol home for security, move things around (wheeled carts with trash/pizza). Let enthusiasts bolt on LeRobot arm(s).

  I wish to participate - please join the Discord, invite discord dot gg/3y2JKz5T25 You are most welcome! Half a dozen requests for contribution are ready and waiting.

  by iliaov
• Lmao this repo is 20 days old, but description is written like it's Linux.
  by j1000
• Nice! This is just what I'm looking for. An old Roomba 880 served us well until it could no longer charge its battery, even a new one.

  The AI slop on the site is not appealing, but it could also mean that the project will be parallelized successfully.

  by winterbourne
• Looks very cool.
  by riyajoshi
• Wonder why they didnt use valetudo?
  by snapplebobapple
• No information about whether it will run Valetudo.
  by teddyh
• Why would it run Valetudo? Thats a product for rooted, closed-source vacuums.

  Let alone why would someone want to attract the toxic culture that is the Valetudo creator and community?

  This project seems like AI slop, but at this point that’s better than toxic dictators.

  by darlachaps
• Valetudo is an API proxy to control robots via an associated app in order to avoid vendor clouds.

  It is not a robot firmware and has no role here.

  by fh973
• my interest in this would be to customize the cleaning plan/logic... especially regarding traversing difficult carpets edges (which my roborock struggles with)

  maybe something like:

    - this specific part of the carpet is the best place to enter onto it
    - once successfully on a carpet, stay on it until done cleaning it

  by kbouck
• Man I wish was able to participate in this project.
  by AussieWog93
• What's stopping you?
  by colordrops
• Interesting project. Aren't most modern robot vacuum's using image processing to determine whether to stop or not now though? How is Lidar going to help you avoid the cat's diarrhoea on the rug?
  by deanc
• There's a camera module in the bill of materials. I suspect it uses both.
  by oliwarner
• The name reminds me of Woomba, the hilarious SNL parody of Roomba back when it was initially going mainstream: https://youtu.be/gqesEYUXr78
  by sevg
• If it can take out the trash and chat with me by voice, I think it’s a great gadget.
  by love0972
• Are robot vacuums always circular, wouldn't a single 90 degree or similar section be useful for accessing corners
  by wisdomseaker
• Neato used to have a straight edge with 90 degree corners on both front edges. My Neato D7 is thr best robot vacuum I had. Unfortunately they shut down their cloud services, so it's useless now.
  by bgnn
• Mostly circular, some have slightly asymmetric shapes like Eufy e28. The mid range and higher typically have an extending arm that handles edges or corners
  by stevewodil
• Being circular allows for zero clearance turns.

  If you imagine a square robot traversing a wall and approaching a 90 degree inside corner, it can’t make the turn and would also be unable to make a perpendicular move to get more space.

  That said Eufy, Makita and others make square-ish robots.

  by throwaway219450
• The brushes usually don't go all the way to the sides of the vacuum, that's why many of them have an additional circular brush on the side to get into the corners and scoop the dirt to the big brushes in the middle.

  No need for edges, also makes navigating through narrow things easier.

  by Bairfhionn
• I've always wondered why the Robo mops have lagged so far behind the vacs, to the point that wirecutter (at least as of last year) wouldn't even recommend one. You'd think they'd be on par by now even with the added complexity of water. Pool robots deal with that quite well.
  by goodwillhunting
• As someone who works across software, hardware, and deep learning, this project makes me happy. My $1000+ vacuum will happily get stuck on the cloth mat, eat all our lego, and it has seen a hundred times, no memory, no meaningful object reasoning, just a marketing claim of intelligence propping up the price. This is something I will definitely play with.
  by bicepjai
• I am bone tired of slop. This looks like a useful thing to build (the cameras in existing closed source robo vacuums creep me out), but when people don't even write their announcement blog post by hand it gives me zero confidence in the project getting anywhere meaningful.

  Perhaps not the place to share this, but it's depressing. I hope this proves me wrong.

  by frio
• Isn't a AI generated blog post better than someone building a useful thing and nobody hearing about it?
  by jimnotgym
• I wonder if there's a project like there's OpenWRT for routers, just for vacuum robots? Where you just can buy some device form a normal online shop, then flash your custom firmware, and off you go with a privacy respecting fellow that doesn't film you and doesn't send everything to some US or Chinese cloud. :)

  (I still use a traditional vacuum here, because all the privacy and snooping aspects of those robot thingies.)

  by binaryturtle
• There is! https://valetudo.cloud/
  by theblazehen
• I just can't say how much I want to see the growth of open hardware.
  by holistio
• If you are not already familiar with https://www.crowdsupply.com then check it out, both to buy but also consider selling your own work.
  by utopiah