Building an Open-Source Robot Vacuum — Meet OOMWOO
3 months ago by inari to c/technology
I propose renaming it to SUCKS cos that's what vacuums do.
That's good.
I was thinking we could come up with an acronym resulting in suck
Sucky Unsupervised Cleaning Knickknack
"Open OOMWOO Might Win Over Obstructions"
referring to the fact that these things often end up crashing into everything
It's like carcinization, all robot vacuum names eventually become "voov"
Can't wait to hear your marketing ideas
It's called OOMWOO in all caps dude. My idea is, call it literally anything else. Also I'm getting one
How about WOOOOM
Or vwoomba
It holds all the dust in its WOMB!
That's actually pretty cool once you know about it.
Something much better like eufy? Or roomba?
I think it's a law that robot vacuums must be named something silly.
I have no objections. If it doesn't connect to the wider internet, could be cool
VacBot, HoovrBot AutoVac, AutoHoovr...there's just so many options for names that describe what it is
People love a good innuendo
We've done it. Look no further
3real5me...the amount of time and money needed to make even simple projects robust and truly usable, and not just a janky DIY job that needs to be used in just the right way or it's wonky is always more than you expect. No matter how many times you've been through the process.
I tend to consider first attempts/versions as Betas. Sometimes I will do the full alpha, beta, RC cycle
Freedman has a pretty good video relating to this
Yeah, i mean, that's just how developing anything works, i think it shuld be something that people have to explain more when they introduce someone to the DIY world, if you expect to finish a product on the first iteration or the first few, you either gonna fail or you have set a low bar
I would actually be more interested in custom firmware for our old touch-and-go Roomba. The hardware is great, fully modular, did even survive a round of cat barf and washing. But the firmware is buggy and does inefficient vacuuming rounds.
I would actually be more interested in custom firmware for our old touch-and-go Roomba
The only thing out there that I know of is https://valetudo.cloud/
Which is basically only a on-device proxy to prevent communications.
But thanks.
cry in voron 3d printer
github
A user you’ve blocked has previously contributed to this repository.
look inside
claude
click insights
Top 3 committers is: some org account, another org account but with ".ai" in it, claude
EDIT: they are not only the top 3 committers, they are the only 3 committers
EDIT0: repo is all screenshots and markdown files, another one has a trivial amount of code also written with ai
Thank you for saving me the time I would have wasted getting excited about this
Well there is nothing to be excited about, the entire repo is empty with only a bunch of readme files. Zero code has been written ai or not.
Don't use any operating systems and most major websites then because theyre all using a coding agent now. It's just the way the industry is going at the moment
edit: Linux uses Claude copilot ffs. It needs to be noted as an AI contribution and needs human review but Linux and Windows definitely use AI coding agents and I guarantee Apple does too. Be in denial all you want. I'm not advocating for them, I'm stating the reality of the industry right now.
linux kernel code scrutiny is extreme
random vibe coded github repo code scrutiny is none at all
The difference between Linux and this random repository is that Linux has very strict code quality control, this repo and other thousand of projects (including winvibe 11) don't;
If everyone had a strict policy of "AI as an help only and not as a replacement" and quality control, then i wouldn't complain at all but we aren't at that point yet and i doubt we will ever be
Read it and weep. From April 2026 https://www.tomshardware.com/...
Again I am not advocating for AI coding agents but they ARE BEING USED in major applications. Unplug or accept a lot of software/websites you use are using coding agents
"Here is a beautiful piece of art. You say it's just a blank piece of paper? Please feel free to draw your own art on it, and then it will be as I said."
I know the real news here is the hardware, but it is still funny...
The thing is... it's not blank. It's painted, but someone complains no that the art is bad, but that they don't like how it was painted. Well, nobody is forcing you to look at it, you can even paint it yourself.
dootdooting doot doot dooting dootdoot
I don't see that as a problem. A vacuum cleaner isn't critical infrastructure and shouldn't be connected to the internet, so no security concerns. Worst case scenario it ruins your carpet. Majority of the work here will be done on hardware side it seems.
There's another repo with a Docker file and that was all written with Claude too for some reason. Though I don't see why in the ever living fuck this would need Docker.
Also, why are we even getting excited over a vacuum cleaner existing as a pile of markdown files talking about it? There are lots of these, actually.
Not sure what's up with docker.
I understand some excitement though. Initially reading this I thought it was a more mature project that it is and something like this that's fully open source would be a nice change from all the projects that talk about replacing firmware but then turn out to run on one version of hardware that hasn't been sold in at least five years.
So? The repository is empty did you even check it. There is no code in it at all.
As i understand it Valetudo is not actually firmware to control the robot. It is a "parasite" that makes the existing robot firmware belive it is connected to the cloud which is very different from actually controlling and navigating the robot. However, in terms of homeasistant integration it could be worth getting inspired.
For a control operating system ROS could be something to consider. When I used it 10 years ago the project was quite unstable since tools changed constantly and it was overly complicated to work with, but a lot of development has happened since so maybe worth considering. I wrote this before reading the article
This is why I love foss software. Their is some guy hacking away at some very specific problem in his own time and he shares it with the world for free. You will have never heard of this problem or even contemplated its existence but once u know some foss developer has solved it going back to a world where it doesn't exist is just a little bit duller.
I love valetudo!
But I also think there should be more open source robotics, and a robot vacuum feels the right topic as a starting point.
I think I also saw someone that wanted to make a robot grass cutter.
Looks pretty cool but a very short list of compatible devices. Also, what they consider "budget options" are not what I would consider "in my price range". LoL 😂
I wasn't able to even find that one. And several of the others. Were you on Amazon or eBay?
As time goes on I'm hoping more products like this that give what was once only possible via locked down proprietary software a new open and repairable life as theres many new products and tech that I see but could never use unless I'd want to just upload everything I do to whoevers servers and pray that they don't get breached.
https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/
The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts. We’re developing open source industrial machines that can be made at a fraction of commercial costs, and sharing our designs online for free.
I just want one where the storage the vac empties out into is on the side so it can slide under a couch.
These things take so much damn space and for some reason they didn't figure out there is a bunch of real estate underneath shit.
Delete this comment, sell idea to a company, profit! But in all seriousness this is a smart idea.
Looking for ways to keep my old one running as long as possible. it's that roboroc xiaomi platform and it has been supper easy to get spare parts. I replaced entire wheel sections batteries and such.
There is a software that replaces the Xiaomi app and that would be the next project.
No need to phone home to china all the time.
I think this one
Needs a custom firmware installed. But then I am free to use it even if the official app no longer exists.
Can confirm it works and is great. I'm even running a Glados voice pack on it that insults me while it cleans.
Only issue I've had the whole time was actually this week when I finally updated the valetudo re version to support the new home assistant MQTT format and the update got stuck but that was an easy fix once I worked out what it was.
Can it say ouch when you kick it or say let me down when you pick it up?
This is it. I've done it last month, and besides having all the control of my s7, I swear that the robot is faster??!
I’m surprised they didn’t go for more of a wide-mouth D bot design like the old neatos did. And a pi5 is hardly affordable in 2026. If it’s local only, does it really need the processing power of a pi? It’ll be on a home network with something running homeassistant anyway. Give it a dumb controller and make it like a wireless klipper bot, the heavy lifting done on the server.
They do mention it is undecided yet and an esp32 is an option. For me that would be ideal but I can also imagine some devs just want some kind of linux where they can run python scripts on.
Dude go to microcenter. Or get an orangepi or radxa board.
Concept of a vacuum.
Yeah, over the years I've learned to not hold my breath about any interesting announcement. Though I'm at the point now where I don't really care either way and feel like pointing it out for any specific project just feels overly pessimistic. Just let them cook or contribute knowing there's never a guarantee it'll come to fruition.
The game changer in robot vacs for me was the emptying station. My first one didn't have it and it just sat in the corner. Full.
It does but I am still on my first ten pack so ...
Also there are for sure some alternative bags, I just didn't put time in to find them.
I do that three times a year. It works for me.
Ah, mine does vacuum only :)
Dreamee 10 pro
I've been interested in Kärcher since it's German and has better privacy laws than the US branded stuff. But this would be interesting. The Kärcher though is on sale for $400USD on their site, tough to beat. 🤕
This looks cool! Nice!
If I have an old Roomba can I hack a new brain into it? I've got a Raspberry Pi and a soldering iron and a willingness to break them for science. Never done much hardware hacking though.
Ooh, this might be a great project for my wife and I to build together
I can't even get my wife to build a Lego set with me 🤣
I've got to share time on the 3d printer now she's got the hang of it, we don't have room for 2. But it's still great to see!
Oh the physical part is all me, she just wants to do the computer stuff lol. But yeah she's been interested in some projects where she can program and I can build.
Is "OOMWOO" an onomatopoeia for a vacuum cleaner's sounds?
Oh. Wow. Thanks. Last time I checked the market it was horrible and then I just gave up on robovacs. Too many different to reverse engineer every single one. But great, gonna check this one out deeply. Thanks man.
The setup is fairly involved and not super beginner friendly however I finally came across and finished to flash my robot a few weeks ago and i don't notice any difference vs the stock firmware when using home assistant, beside the fact that its no longer connecting to all these random servers in China. It really is a wonderful project!
Sounds great! Although I less worry about Chinese servers than american servers 😁 I would even be fine if it were shittier then, or totally manual programming or whatever. Just not clouds that get data I know nothing about and have no agency over it.
the robot vac i have had for 3 years is the dumbest machine. goes over the same areas multiple times a session. has a manual steer setting but if i gotta steer it, whats the point of robotics? finally gave up and got a dust mop.
At the risk of sounding like an ad, roborock (xiaomi) makes fantastic vacuums. Great navigation, great cleaning performance, obstacle avoidance (cables, socks, etc) depends on the model.
They do offer a meter interface if you want to have it offline, but I'm quite happy with the (cloud based) app, allows a bit more control.
It integrates with home assistant but it sometimes goes "unavailable", the matter integration is a bit more stable for that.
I sure other manufacturers also have great ones, check "vacuum wars" on YouTube.
The two things with robot vacs is one cleaning the roller is to annoying. I think it would be best for it to be like a shop vac. Yeah it would not do as good a job but would be a good general cleaner and you don't have to mess with the roller sweeper. Two is a base station to auto empty the refuse bin. Honestly for the first part it maybe just better as an option. so you have one for more thorugh clean that will need more maint but no more than a standard vacc and one that is less maint and can pickup more types of stuff. Might be good just to have the shop vac type go first so that the roller type gets gunked up less.
I agree completely but the suction required for something without a brush is huge and you'll need a much bigger motor and battery. I had a vacuum that didn't auto empty for years and while my new one is a huge upgrade it was a time saver just to have one do the vacuuming and then empty it manually or every other time if there wasn't much dirt.
See I found it was not much of a time saving. I would rather just vaccum than clean and prep it. It was useful when my wife was sick as I literally needed to be able to do two things at once and cleaning it out could be done at any time and piece meal and such so it worked. But under normal circumstances, again, I would just prefer to vaccum which does not take all that much time and is not ardous. Now something that went pretty often and was like 99% autonomous where I just empty a bine once a week. That would be worth it. Even if I had to vaccum I could do it once a week and keep the carpet very clean or once a month and have it be pretty decently generally clean.
I'm good with this. I actually want a smaller unit for my home office specifically.
so large enough to cover around 200-ish sqft.
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You can tell it's a genuine high-quality open-source project because the name sucks
save