this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025
658 points (99.4% liked)

Technology

66353 readers
4344 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Troubled robot vacuum-cleaner maker iRobot, abandoned by Amazon after regulators effectively doomed the web giant's takeover offer, has warned investors it may not survive the next 12 months.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 63 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

It would be great if more smart devices had a LAN-only control mode like my 3D printer, TV and AV receiver.

I would be perfectly happy if my iRobot phone app only worked from inside my network.

[–] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Doesn't apply to iRobot but there are lots of robot vacuums that can be flashed with an open firmware with just a USB UART cable: https://valetudo.cloud/pages/general/supported-robots.html

As for the other devices, my 3D printer, projector and AV receiver are all locally controlled.

[–] aarch64@lemm.ee 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Big +1 for Valetudo. I use it on a refurbished Roborock S7+ I got on eBay and it's fantastic.

[–] Toribor@corndog.social 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

How was your experience rooting it?

I've been really wanting a Roborock for a while but I saw that changes starting on I think their S6 model made rooting it much more difficult and required a pretty extensive disassembly process.

I'm pretty comfortable with electronics teardowns but the thought of having to fully disassemble my brand new device to root it made me decide to wait a little and see how things shake out. I haven't looked into it seriously for maybe a year or so though so I don't know what has changed.

[–] aarch64@lemm.ee 2 points 23 hours ago

Same experience as domi, had to take the whole thing apart. It was pretty straightforward as the guide was excellent. My only regret is forgetting to enable SSH access before reassembling it.

[–] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I rooted both of my Roborock S6.

If you can solder and have an UART USB cable, it's not really hard to do. Technically you can flash it by just holding your UART adapter against the solder pads but soldering them on definitely makes it easier.

There's a full video guide on how to dissassemble and root here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9PoaNtZCJRZc61c792VCr_I6jQK_IdSb

Firmware and everything else is here: https://builder.dontvacuum.me/_s6.html

Also, if you don't have a Roborock yet, the Dreame models are significantly easier to root. Don't even have to disassemble most of them.

[–] Toribor@corndog.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thank you. Funny enough it looks like I've already watched both of those videos last time I was looking into this. I'm comfortable soldering but it was yet another barrier to me actually making a purchase.

I'll check out Dreame, I have not heard much about them.

I've had two Neato's in the past and I really miss having one but I now live in a split-level house and the convenience factor drops down a lot when you have to carry it between floors all the time rather than just coming home to a freshly cleaned carpet.

[–] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 2 points 1 day ago

I'll check out Dreame, I have not heard much about them.

Roborock, Dreame and Xiaomi are functionally almost identical. Some of them even share the same parts.

If you want to root them, get a Dreame or a Xiaomi. Most of them are rootable without disassembly, see the list linked above.

Make sure to read their disclaimers, they're really not interested in expanding features, so make double sure it's sufficient for what you want.

[–] Allero@lemmy.today 15 points 1 day ago

At that point, I wouldn't trust ANY device that cannot be controlled locally, either natively or at least through some hacks.

[–] exu@feditown.com 8 points 1 day ago

I think it's just using MQTT, so block network access and use HomeAssistant

[–] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] aarch64@lemm.ee 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It's pretty common for newer 3D printers to have WiFi. Start/stop jobs, monitor cameras, or just to have a more capable UI than the built-in screen. Lots of people add this capability to older printers (or new ones with sucky interfaces) with OctoPrint.

[–] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 1 points 22 hours ago

I have an ender 3 and Im glad it doesn't do any of that. So much more complicated

[–] anarchiddy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

And some brands of 3D printers have started placing those functionalities behind remote servers and paywalls

cough cough Bambu Labs cough cough

[–] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

BambuLab A1 Mini. It has a WNIC.

[–] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 1 points 22 hours ago

Hmm. Interesting.

[–] drasglaf@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

My cheap Conga robot came with a remote controller. It stopped connecting to its server long ago, but I can still use it. The battery is getting worse and worse, though.