Your robot vacuum won’t connect to Wi-Fi because most models only support 2.4GHz networks, and your phone or router is likely using 5GHz. Other common causes include missing app permissions (Bluetooth and Location), an incorrect Wi-Fi reset procedure, mobile data interference, or special characters in your Wi-Fi password. I’ve been writing about smart home robotics … Read more
Your robot vacuum is supposed to clean your floors while you do something else. So when it keeps stopping mid-cycle, that whole convenience promise falls apart. I have spent the last three years testing robot vacuums in a house with two shedding dogs, and I can tell you from experience that almost every “my robot … Read more
I have spent the last three months testing robot vacuums across a three-story home, and I have carried every single one of them up and down the stairs more times than I would like to admit. So when readers ask me “can robot vacuums climb stairs,” my answer in is more nuanced than it was … Read more
I have been asked this question more than any other about robot vacuums, and the short answer surprises most people. A robot vacuum knows it is done by combining three signals: it has covered its mapped area, it has reached a programmed time limit, or its battery has dropped below a safety threshold. The robot … Read more
If you have ever watched a robot vacuum glide under your couch, pivot around a chair leg, and dock itself back at the charger, you have probably wondered how a small disc on wheels knows where to go. The answer is a layered system of sensors, mapping algorithms, and software that turns a simple cleaning … Read more
If you have ever watched a small disc-shaped device glide across your living room floor, dodge a chair leg, and then quietly return to its dock, you have probably asked yourself: how do robot vacuums actually work? The short answer is that they combine a handful of sensors, a clever mapping algorithm, and a small … Read more
Tesla promised us robotaxis by , and instead, millions of FSD-equipped cars still need a human hand hovering over the wheel. I have been following this story for nearly a decade, and the gap between the marketing and the road has never been wider. So the question why is full self driving taking so long … Read more
Teleoperation for autonomous vehicles is the technology that lets a remote human operator monitor, assist, and take over a self-driving car when the onboard system cannot handle a situation on its own. I have spent the last several months reading NIST forum transcripts, talking with teleoperators, and reviewing papers from teams at Synopsys and arXiv … Read more
If you have ever asked yourself “how do autonomous trucks work,” you are not alone. I have spent the last few months following this space closely, riding along on test routes and talking to engineers at Aurora, Torc, and a few smaller players. The short answer is that self-driving trucks use a layered stack of … Read more
A robotaxi is a fully driverless autonomous vehicle that picks up passengers through a ride-hailing app and transports them to a destination using a combination of LiDAR sensors, cameras, radar, and artificial intelligence, with no human behind the wheel. In plain English, it is a self-driving taxi. I have spent the last several months following … Read more