Hello all, I have a Jetbot Vacuum cleaner, and recently I had to put a Freezer in that spot. So, I decided to create a base for the freezer and put the vacuum underneath. I got inspired by some “Vacuum cleaner garage door” projects, and I got it working on Smartthings.
Opening or Closing the door is easy. But chaining it with the Vacuum cleaner states was tricky. I had to create several Routines, some manual, others automatic.
Automation #1: A manual button to send the robot to clean. This automation does the following: Open the door >> Wait 2 seconds >> Start cleaning
The reason I created it this way and not use the regular button from the Vacuum cleaner, and do the rest with an Automation, is because the Vacuum cleaner was hitting the door prior to it being open. The automations only allow me to the following states: “Fully charged”, “Charging”, “Waiting”, “Returning”, or “Cleaning”, but actually when the Jetbot is starting to Clean it uses a different state called something like “Identifying surroundings” or whatever. Meaning that when it actually starts cleaning, the door wouldn’t be fully open and the Vacuum would hit it.
Automation #2: Close the door if the Vacuum cleaner is in the state cleaning, and a door sensor is Open for more than 10 seconds. This helps me to safely close the door while the Vacuum cleaner is already far away.
Automation #3: Open the door when the Vacuum cleaner is returning to the base.
Automation #4: Closing the door when the Vacuum cleaner is charging for more than 1 second (simple delay), and the Door is open.
My problem is that during my tests, there was some failures. Occasionally the door wouldn’t open when the Vacuum was returning. Meaning that it would start “knocking on the door” 
until it got tired. Maybe it can happen the same when it starts cleaning.
My question is, how to fix this (when parts of an Automation fail)? Also, are there any suggestions on how to make it cleaner?
By the way, if anyone wants to try to build something similar, this is what I used:
- 220V to 12V Power Supply
- MHCOZY 2 Channel 5V 12V ZigBee Dry Contact Relay
- Linear Actuator 32N
- Door Sensor
When I started to research this, I didn’t find any detailed DIY, specially that would mention Smartthings.
Images:
Vacuum cleaner starting:
Vacuum cleaner cleaning:
Cheers