Print Your Own Robot Vacuum: Open-Source 'oomwoo' Combines Raspberry Pi and 2D LiDAR for Fully Offline Operation

Maker's Pet has unveiled oomwoo, an open-source robot vacuum designed to be built entirely by the end user. The robot maps its home environment using a low-cost 2D LiDAR sensor, performs path planning via a ROS 2 and Nav2 navigation stack running on a Raspberry Pi, and offers native integration with the Home Assistant smart home platform. The chassis can be produced on a standard desktop 3D printer, and the entire project — hardware, firmware, and software — operates without any cloud dependency and is released under the Apache 2.0 license.

oomwoo's developer, Ilia O of Maker's Pet, chose to develop the project in the open "from the first commit." The project is currently at a very early stage, with no assembly instructions yet available.

Current Status: Request for Comments

oomwoo is presently in a Request for Comments (RFC) phase. The v0 milestone covers the 3D-printable chassis, a ROS 2 Gazebo simulation environment, and LiDAR-based mapping with manual SLAM. The choice of compute platform — a Raspberry Pi 5, an ESP32 running micro-ROS, or a combination of both — remains under discussion.

Planned deliverables include a bill of materials (BoM), printable files, firmware, and a custom PCB. The first BoM is expected to be released around mid-July.

Community-Driven Development

The project's architecture is designed to enable parallel community contributions. The robot is broken down into discrete modules, allowing contributors to claim a module and submit their work via pull request. Maker's Pet plans to offer convenience kits for sale, but Ilia emphasizes that purchasing a kit is not required — all components can be sourced independently.

Comparison with Existing Solutions: Valetudo

The most common approach to achieving a cloud-free robot vacuum today is to start with an existing commercial product. Valetudo, maintained by Sören Beye since 2018 and also licensed under Apache 2.0, replaces the cloud connectivity of commercial robot vacuums with local-only control and Home Assistant integration. However, installing Valetudo requires rooting the stock firmware — a process that involves physically disassembling many supported Dreame, Roborock, and Xiaomi models — and voids the warranty while being irreversible.

The Security Case for Local Control

A series of high-profile robot vacuum security incidents in recent years lends added relevance to oomwoo's fully offline design, likely to attract DIY enthusiasts and privacy-conscious users alike.

At DEF CON 32 in August 2024, researchers Dennis Giese and Braelynn Luedtke demonstrated that several Ecovacs models could be compromised over Bluetooth, granting access to their cameras and microphones. Giese told TechCrunch that the brand's security practices were "really, really, really, really bad."

A compromised DEEBOT X2 unit subsequently chased pets and broadcast offensive audio in multiple U.S. households. Separately, a token vulnerability in DJI's Romo product line allowed one DIY user to access approximately 6,700 robot vacuums worldwide, including their floor plans and live video feeds. In another case, a user whose remotely disabled robot vacuum could no longer operate fabricated a custom circuit board and wrote Python code to run the device entirely offline.

oomwoo's reference design eliminates these attack surfaces at the architecture level: navigation relies solely on 2D LiDAR and bump sensors, with no camera pointed at the interior of the home.

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