Thinking Cleaner, WiFi for your Roomba® vacuum robot, is now live on Kickstarter! In our current day and age of the digital, everything and everyone is always connected.Your friends, your workplace, your number one sports-team as well as your favourite restaurants are just one click away. From now on, even your household can join the online party. Introducing Thinking Cleaner, the WiFi add-on that enables your Roomba vacuum cleaning robot to connect to you from anywhere in the world, using the specially designed Thinking Cleaner apps, or your home automation system.

Product designer Joep Elderman, annoyed by the fact that his Roomba lacked WiFi support, decided to assemble a team in order to create a product that would resolve this problem. “We improved the best vacuum robot in the world by giving it an intelligent processor that teams up with an Android® and iOS® app, thereby opening up the Roomba to even more possibilities than ever before,” explains Elderman. His new-found company Thinking Bits developed the user-friendly product Thinking Cleaner that replaces the original Roomba faceplate with one that has additional electronics incorporated. This new faceplate fits any Roomba vacuum robot perfectly and adds improved possibilities to even the most basic model.

For example, the efficacy of something simple like the remote control is improved greatly with Thinking Cleaner installed. The regular IR remote control can only send simple commands, but cannot respond to status changes or inform you about these. Thinking Cleaner tells you when the Roomba has reached it’s homebase, when it’s battery is recharged and can even tell you how many miles it has traveled. An average Roomba can travel up to 1.2 miles per cleaning session! Another Thinking Cleaner feature enables the Roomba to start automatically when you leave your house or office, using a technique known as geofencing. Owners of multiple Roomba’s can control all of them using the Thinking Cleaner app. Even the simplest Roomba without the built-in timer can be programmed to perform a scheduled cleaning up to four times a day using Thinking Cleaner.

Thinking Cleaner for your iRobot® Roomba is available now on Kickstarter, starting at €99,- for the models compatible with the 500 and 600 series and €109,- for the models compatible with the 700 and 800 series.

Additional information

Thinking Cleaner adds WiFi support to an iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaning robot. Thinking Cleaner users that have acces to an internet connection can control their Roomba from all over the world and can receive push notifications from their cleaning robot(s). The Thinking Cleaner module can be controlled using the built-in web-app or, when using a mobile device, by using the iPhone or Android apps. Thinking Cleaner comes with an application programming interface (API), enabling users to connect their Thinking Cleaner to their existing home automation systems. Thinking Cleaner is developed to generate better communication between humans and cleaning robots in a simple manner. People dealing with visual or physical disabilities can also make optimal use of the Thinking Cleaner experience by using the accessibility functions provided in the apps.

The Thinking Cleaner WiFi module:

• Adds WiFi to your Roomba for ultimate Roomba control.

• Comes in a sturdy replacement faceplate with all electronics embedded.

• iPhone®, Android® and web based apps available.

• Has much more advanced remote control possibilities than the standard IR remote.

• Easy schedule setup from anywhere in the world, even on Roomba’s sold without the schedule option. Up to 4 schedules per day per Roomba!

• Get notifications from your Roomba World wide access through our ThinkingSync servers.

• Max clean function (for large rooms).

• Multiple Thinking Cleaners are supported by the iPhone and Android app’s.

* Apple HomeKit® integrated version available, currently only for the 700 and 800 series.

• Adds accessibility features to Roomba for people with disabilities or people that need care by making full use of the Voiceover capabilities.

• Runs autonomously on its own CPU to enable full Roomba independent operation.

• Easy to link to home automation systems (API with documentation available for JSON or XML, expect some home-automation plugins developed by others or us later).

• Over the air firmware updates. Ready for future enhancements and features.

• Works without router or modem reconfiguration or port forwarding.

Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com
Video: vimeo.com

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Thinking Bits Logo: www.thinkingcleaner.com

– iPhone, iOS and HomeKit are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries
– Android is a trademark of Google Inc.
– iRobot, Roomba and Virtual Wall are trademarks of iRobot Corporation
– Thinking Bits and the Thinking Bits logo are registered trademarks of Thinking Bits BV