Deebot Ozmo 960 robot vacuum cleaner detects cables & socks: Ecovacs at IFA

We are currently at the IFA in Berlin and try to find out as much as possible about the individual tech manufacturers for you. One of them has pushed himself into the foreground: Ecovacs shone at the IFA not only with a modern stand, but also with the presentation of the KI AIVI. In the future, suction robots will be able to detect smaller objects such as cables, socks or shoes. Th world premiere has already been installed in the Deebot Ozmo 960, which was presented yesterday. We were at Ecovacs’ stand and looked into it.

Ozmo 960: Will no-go zones soon be obsolete?

The Ozmo 960 was announced earlier this year at the CES (International Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. Now it’s official : The 960 is the first household robot in the world that can detect even the smallest obstacles using a built-in KI AIVI (Artificial Intelligence and Visual Interpretation) and a camera lens mounted at the front (without optical shots, no photos taken). Especially the detection of cables is an important factor, after all a destroyed cable is not only annoying, but in case of doubt not harmless either.

Ecovacs shows the AIVI impressively by means of a rotating model:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN-efXxaofQ

The Ozmo 960 is based on the Ozmo 930, future models will be software based on the new Ozmo 950. Of course, in addition to the built-in camera lens, there is also a laser distance sensor (LDS), which takes navigation in this combination to a new level.

All new Ecovacs robots will be equipped with AIVI and will send their technological data on small obstacles to a large OTA (Over-the-Air) database, from which the robots will be fed with information. In this way, the robots really become smarter over time, learn new things and can better differentiate and classify obstacles in the long run. However, Ecovacs stressed several times in the interview that the Ozmo 960 is still a kind of “prototype for future models” and that the AIVI still has to be optimized.

If you are worried about the data you get from the robots, Ecovacs has its own servers, independent of China, on which the data is collected. These are located in Frankfurt am Main.

Not too much is known about the other technical data, but here you can use the Ozmo 930 as a guideline. The usual suction robot functions such as the autonomous retrieval of the charging station and all other known functions are of course also included. As usual with Ecovacs models, voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant is also possible.

New logo, fresh cooperations

The new model should not have been the only surprise for fans of the brand: Jonathan Tang, Vice President of Ecovacs, presented the new Ecovacs logo on Thursday (September 5th, 2019), which is supposed to stand for a “stronger connection between China and Europe”. From my point of view (Tim at IFA) the logo doesn’t look too different than before, but it is a bit “cleaner” and more catchy.

Düsseldorf-based Henkel has developed a hard floor cleaning product for Ecovacs that is placed in the water tanks of Ecovacs robots. Brief note: Normal cleaning agents normally destroy the sensors. In addition to the better cleaning result, the cleaning liquid is primarily intended to create the “feeling of freshness” of a wiped floor: Odour, cleanliness and gloss are the key words. I looked at it and sniffed it (it smells really good):

It is really extremely exciting to be able to track and trace a manufacturer as well as Ecovacs. With its German headquarters, Amazon sales, guarantee and CE certification, the manufacturer is really interesting for us here in Germany. Not least because the models always perform very well in our tests.

And as you inevitably notice: Ecovacs is still far from finished with its ideas, but is just beginning.