


Putting ferrofluid over top the encoder wheel reveals that it hosts eight magnetic poles. Click image to enlarge.ĭevice consisting of a magnetic disk mounted on the motor shaft and a Hall effect sensor. Below, placing ferrofluid above the encoder wheel reveals its eight magnetic poles. These motors use a feedback Top, the magnetic encoder wheel in place on a wheel motor. Click image to enlarge.Three of the motors can be operated at a variable speed and use speed feedback. There are six dc motors on the vacuum-one for the lidar, one for the side brush, one for the main brush, the fan motor, and one for each of the two driven wheels–and they all operate at 14.4 V. There is also a rectifier connected across the two metal charging contacts which is probably there to protect against accidental cross wiring during recharge. To recharge, the robot backs itself into its charging dock so the two metal bars touch two large metal contacts on the dock. The charging connection consists of two horizontal metal bars sitting at the back of the robot in the exhaust outlet. A point to note is that battery charge management takes place on this PCB, not in the external charger to which the D7 docks for a recharge. The main PCB contains the level-shifting circuitry and charge management ICs for the robot’s 14.4-V battery. The connected device market for using security techniques that are more common in industrial setups than in IoT gear. The mechanical contact sensors tell the D7 it has just bumped into an object. The optical sensors detect the absence of a floor to tell the robot it is about to go off an edge. The magnet sensors will detect magnetic tape to map stay-away zones. These researchers also report the MCU runs the QNX operating system and that overall, Neato sticks out on The D7 with its top removed. Researchers in Germany who analyzed security aspects of the D7 report that the MCU is actually a custom AM335x Sitara processor chip with secure boot enabled, meaning the D7’s flash chip (a 4GB NAND from Kingston Technology) only contains an encrypted and signed system image physical attackers can’t unsolder the flash chip to get at it.

The main processor on the D7 is a Texas Instruments chip with a non-standard part number. This chip resides beneath a metal shield and is completely devoid of markings, so we couldn’t determine who manufactured it. The WiFi chip sits on the main circuit board which is visible near the front of the vacuum.
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The robot also communicates with a smartphone app when the user wants to give it manual commands that are not part of its learned mapping. The robot can vacuum without a cloud connection but cannot report maps or respect virtual no-go lines. Click image to enlargeĪnd robot commands. The D7 has a Wi-Fi interface to communicate directly with cloud servers for setup, account information, The D7 wifi connections as described by German security researchers. Removing the top cover reveals the main electronics boards at the front of the bot as well as the lidar unit and mounts for the for various sensors and motors. The main cover also holds the dust catcher and an air filter for the air output. The D7 has two top covers, one around the front of the bot that can move slightly and actuate mechanical switches that serve as obstacle detectors when the vacuum bumps into something, and a main cover that’s attached with Torx screws. Bottom, the underside of the D7 with the battery removed.Īre implemented and to get a close look at the lidar unit that helps the bot find its way around. Middle, the D7 with its dust bin removed. We tore down a D7 to see how these features Top, the D7. The D7 robot vacuum from Neato Robotics in California boasts a lot of navigational features such as zone cleaning, no-go lines, and floor plan mapping.
