Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaner Revolution and SMOROBOT Develpment in 2024

The robot pool cleaner is an automatic device capable of autonomously completing the pool cleaning work underwater. It can replace traditional manual cleaning improving cleaning efficiency and saving water resources. The cordless robotic pool cleaner is one type of pool cleaning robot that initially emerged around 2000 and began to become more commercialized around 2010. Now cordless pool cleaning robots account for approximately 30% of the total sales of cleaning robots. It does not need to be connected to power lines or water pipes. Instead, it operates through built-in batteries and water pumps, providing higher flexibility and convenience.

We SMOROBOT are a company dedicated to the research and development as well as production of cordless robotic pool vacuum. We are committed to providing users with innovative, reliable, and professional products and services. In this article, we will introduce the technological development and challenges in the robotic pool cleaner industry, as well as our exploration and progress in this field. 

The Technological Development Journey of cordless robotic pool vacuum

The emergence of wireless robotic pool cleaner marks a revolution in the pool cleaning industry. Its technological development has undergone several stages:

• First Generation: The initial version of cordless robotic pool cleaner primarily relied on mechanical structures and simple circuits to achieve cleaning functions. They lacked intelligent control and navigation systems, could only move randomly in the pool, resulting in less-than-ideal cleaning effects, and had short battery life, requiring frequent recharging.
• Second Generation: An evolved version of cordless robotic pool vacuums began incorporating intelligent elements such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, etc. These robots could automatically plan cleaning paths based on the shape and size of the pool, improving cleaning efficiency and coverage. They also introduced auxiliary functions like scheduled cleaning, enhancing user experience. While battery life improved, it was still not sufficient.
• Third Generation: Innovative versions of wireless cordless robotic pool vacuum started adopting more advanced technologies like infrared sensors, sonar, ultrasonic sensing, SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), etc. These robots could achieve precise positioning and 3D mapping underwater, dynamically adjust cleaning strategies according to the pool's conditions, thus enhancing cleaning effectiveness and intelligence. They also optimized battery and pump performance, significantly extending battery life, meeting market standards.

Challenges in the Technological Development of Cordless Robotic pool vacuum

Although significant progress has been made in the technological development of cordless robotic pool vacuum, they still face several challenges:

Suction Power

The suction power of a cordless robotic pool vacuum is affected by many factors: 

1. Pump power:

Most of the pool cleaner currently on the market state that their machine have super suction power, and use different data to illustrate it. For example:

• Motor power and number of motors

Some brands do have false parameters. For example the power of all motors is added up, but only the actual suction force is the power of the water pump motor, rather than the motor power to its brushes. This will lead to the fact that the parameter of power is very high but the suction power is insufficient in actual use.

 

• SMOROBOT

 All models of machines are equipped with 3 motors, a main water pump motor (188W) and 2 motors to its brushes. The suction power reaches the current market maximum of 4800GPH (Gallons Per Hour). Refer to the Dolphin products, which maximum suction power is 4800GPH.

• Development  Trend

With the development of technology, water pump motors do not increase suction by increasing power and quantity, because this will inevitably increase costs and reduce battery life. 

1. The Pump quality structure : like reducing energy loss, optimizing impellers and The pump body structure is designed to improve water flow efficiency and suction effect.
2. Brushless motors replace brushed motors: more precise control, greater energy output.
3. intelligence of water pump control: it has automatic functions, such as automatic start and stop based on historical cleaning records, automatic positioning and navigation, automatic adjustment of cleaning paths, etc., and automatic adjustment of suction size, reducing user operations and intervention, and improving Cleaning efficiency and convenience.

2. Filtration system and machine water flow dynamics design:

To improve the filtration effect, some brands continue to shrink the filter mesh, which will increase the water flow resistance and reduce the suction power. At the same time, it is difficult for the water to flow out when recycling the machine. The impact of fluid dynamics on suction primarily lies in the design of the pump motor and the optimization of water flow paths. Such as: An optimized impeller design enhances the flow and direction of water; Well-designed piping and connections minimize water resistance and turbulence; Optimizing water flow paths is crucial for enhancing suction efficiency.

• SMOROBOT

1. Anti-clog systems utilize mechanisms such as back washing or automated cleaning cycles to remove trapped debris from the filter media, ensuring continuous filtration efficiency without the need for manual intervention.

1. Variable Speed Pumps allowing for precise control over water flow rates and energy consumption. Variable speed pumps can dynamically adjust their speed and power output to match the specific requirements of the pool, resulting in improved cleaning efficiency and extended battery life. 

• Development  Trend

1. Enhanced Filtration Materials: nanofiber technologies and innovative composite materials designed to capture even the finest particles and easy to clean.
2. Integration with IoT and Automation: this integration enables real-time monitoring of filtration performance, remote control of filter settings, and predictive maintenance capabilities to ensure optimal filter operation.

Waterproofing

The waterproof performance of wireless swimming pool cleaning robots is crucial for their safety and stability. However, due to the complexity and unpredictability of underwater environments, as well as long-term use and wear of devices, waterproof performance issues may arise, leading to equipment damage or failure, or even safety accidents such as electric shock. The waterproofing is affected durability of various machine components underwater.

Sealed cabin waterproof sealing and durability: 

The selection of seals and sealing materials is critical to sealing and durability. Materials with good weather resistance, corrosion resistance and wear resistance can provide longer sealing effect and service life. Like: polyurethane seals and PP materials, which have chemical stability and corrosion resistance, can maintain good sealing effects in harsh underwater environments. However, in actual use, we could see some customer feedback that the machine stops working after a period of use. The main reason is that there is currently no unified industry standard for underwater robots in the industry, and the quality test marks of each brand are inconsistent, which even using the standard of a robot vacuum. The second reason is that underwater mechanical vibration will squeeze and deform the seal, thus affecting its sealing performance and durability, so the internal structural layout of the seal is extremely demanding.

• SMOROBOT

1. SMOROBOT has fully upgraded the machine's firmware to improve the durability of the machine in 2024 and prevent water leakage, power leakage, battery loss and other problems. Including: using 316 stainless steel instead of 304 stainless steel for screws, upgrading the sealing technology of the machine casing, battery and motor, etc.
2. Each machine must pass 45 reliability tests, including: high and low temperature tests, impact tests, salt spray tests, aging tests, etc. 1,000 hours of operation testing in heavy dirty pool ensures battery durability. And the machine has 15+ certifications including: UL CE FC ...

• Development trend: 

The future development trend of wireless swimming pool cleaning robot waterproofing will mainly focus on the following aspects:

1. Material innovation: Innovations in nanotechnology, polymer material science and other fields have stronger water resistance, corrosion resistance and high pressure resistance. SMOROBOT will upgrade all sealed cabin materials in 2024, using new and more reliable materials. Ensure the quality and texture of the machine
2. Modular design: making key components such as sealed cabins easier to maintain and replace. SMOROBOT has completed this iteration
3. Intelligent design: Intelligent sensors monitor water pressure, water temperature and other parameters to detect and respond to potential leaks or waterproofing problems in a timely manner.

Intelligent Navigation 

the navigation technology of the main brands on the market has developed to the second generation: the introduction of infrared sensors, gyroscopes and other sensors, combined with simple algorithms to achieve basic path planning and obstacle avoidance functions, improving cleaning efficiency. However, during use, you will find that the machine cannot operate according to the advertised path and often misses and gets stuck. The reason is: Compared with robot vacuum, underwater navigation is much more difficult. These include:

1. Irregular underwater structure: The actual structure of the bottom of the swimming pool is irregular. Swimming pools with large slopes of more than 25° account for more than 37% in North America, diamond pools account for more than 20% of underground pools in Europe, and bowl pools account for more than 20% of underground pools in North America. Accounting for more than 25%. This greatly increases the difficulty of robot navigation and requires the intelligent navigation system to have strong adaptability and flexibility.
2. Underwater obstacles: There are often various obstacles in swimming pools, such as pool walls, diving boards, water pumps, lights, etc. These obstacles will increase the complexity of navigation.
3. Signal shielding: Water has strong signal shielding ability, and the propagation of wireless signals in water is hindered, causing increasing the difficulty of positioning.
4. Water flow interference: There may be water flow interference in the swimming pool, especially during use of the pool. The water flow will change due to the activities of swimmers, which may affect the accuracy of path planning and navigation stability of the intelligent navigation system.

• SMOROBOT

First brand in the industry to propose intelligent path planning. Its technical advantages are mainly in the following aspects:

1. Industry-leading  technology sensor : In addition to the IMU, sonar, laser, and other sensors already on the market, we will launch revolutionary sensors in 2024 that will completely change the development of underwater navigation. Stay tuned! 
2. Self-developed AI path-planning algorithm breaks through the problem of cleaning large slopes and special-shaped pools, and is perfectly suitable for diamond pools, bowl pools, large slopes, Roman pools, Greek pools, oval pools and other swimming pools.
3. Exclusive path route: the spiral floor cleaning route, V-shaped wall cleaning and U-shaped edge cleaning route ensures thorough coverage with no omissions.

 

Values and mission

SMOROBOT, as an emerging brand focusing on robotic pool cleaner, was established in 2021 and launched 2 generations of models in 2022 and 2023. Including: 2022: X10, X11, 2023: X1C , X11-2023 version, X12, X1W . We continue to optimize quality and upgrade functions, and have accumulated a large number of loyal customers. Then we also understand that there are major technical difficulties and lack of industry standards in the underwater cleaning robot industry. In 2024, we promise to launch the highest quality products products. Mainly in the following points:

1. Use more reliable and more suitable materials to ensure the texture and quality of the machine, and will never sacrifice quality for sales price.
2. Created the most stringent quality testing experimental method in the industry. Our goal is that our quality standards will eventually become industry standards
3. A large number of real test scenarios to verify the intelligent navigation technology. We believe that many other brands will launch very powerful technologies and algorithms in the future. What we promise is that every innovative navigation technology will go through a large number of different real swimming pool environments testing, where we most focus on R&D.

We always adhere to our brand values: Professional, innovative, reliable. The new model X2 series in 2024 and we look forward to your attention

Thank you for reading our blog article. If you are interested in our robot or have any suggestions or feedback, please feel free to contact us. We are dedicated to serving you wholeheartedly. 😊