While our present age has often been painted with skies of flying cars and ordinary lives filled with robotic helpers serving our every whim, the current truth is not that far removed from the lofty ideals of the past – although we are still awaiting the arrival of a fully-autonomous domestic robot on the level of the Jetsons’ “Rosie”, we are in fact living in the early days of an amazing age when the tedious task of vacuuming can be relegated to robots. Since we have yet to come across a human being who truly enjoys vacuuming, we assumed there would be some interest in the top five robot vacuums available in Malaysia.
The latest picaBot AI series robot can sweep, vacuum, mop and disinfect in one go. The combination of super high suction power, large electronic water tank, extra-long double spin brushes cleans better than most manual cleaning. Thanks to the latest laser mapping technology acting as the eyes of the robot, picaBot cleans every space systematically without missing any spot up to a whooping 3,000sqft in daylight or darkness.
While drop detection and auto return to charge is standard among robotic cleaners, picaBot is at another level that is highly customisable by using the app to set cleaning areas, forbidden areas, cleaning time, suction level as well as mopping dampness. Users can also control and see the picaBot’s cleaning path real time anywhere, anytime via their mobile phone.
Interested to find out more about Corvan picaBot? We did a full review of it here!
Dyson’s 360 Eye™ hits all the right notes in an ode to the robotic vacuum cleaner: 360-degree awareness afforded by an omni-directional camera, a slim-profile recharging station for the robot to automatically dock with when it runs low on energy – and an impressive navigational package that enables this robot to track its journey around obstacles or drops while it works its way through gaps as narrow as 9 inches. While these features are expected in any robotic vacuum cleaner, the 360 Eye is differentiated by tough tank tracks where one would normally find wheels, in addition to Dyson’s own technological revolutions – the V2 digital impeller and the Radial Root Cyclone™ centrifugal action, providing higher suction while entailing lower energy requirements and noise levels.
When most other appliance giants steered away from robotic vacuum cleaners at the turn of the millennium, iRobot’s Roomba was charming homeowners with a pet-like personality expressed through a surprising ability to occasionally detect and avoid hazardous elements in its surroundings – which is why the Roomba brand is as synonymous to robotic vacuum cleaners as Xerox was once to photocopiers. Due in part to iRobot’s early start, one of the latest iterations of the Roomba – the 880, is equipped with a host of sensors that enables it to work with iRobot’s Virtual Wall® accessories, to push past soft obstacles, to persistently go over spots with high concentrations of dirt, and to clean one room at a time.
Typical robot vacuums use their arrays of intelligent sensors to avoid dangers such as stairs and housepets while working, but Neato Robotic’s D85 Botvac uses technology pioneered by military forces and a higher level of intelligence to map, understand, and move through its environment gracefully. Using laser range finders and the kind of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms found in airborne drones, the D85 Botvac plans its motions and cleans methodically – going as far as even retaining maps between battery charges so that it can continue the task at hand after a quick break.
The problem of reaching for dust in the extents of a 90-degree corner has long plagued robot vacuum cleaners, but Panasonic’s Rulo gets around that issue with its novel shape – the Reuleaux triangle. The Rulo’s namesake shape enables it to reach into corners with the tips of its rotating brushes, while its 92-millimetre height enables it to slip into the forgotten realms beneath sofas and beds. As expected for appliances bearing the Panasonic brand, this particular device includes an ionising plate on its underside that grounds and renders inert any dust particles it comes across.
* Brands are listed alphabetically