Dyson took its time in entering the robot vaccum segment. There's a great reason for that, the company's enginners looked at all the issues surrounding robotic vaccums and solved as many as they could while innovating at every turn. The result is a remarkable and truly intelligent cleaning robot that features a 360-degree camera that views the room at a 45 degree angle and takes 30 pictures per second.
Those photos compose a live map of the room. Which the 360 Eye then cleans in an efficient and economical manner. The Dyson 360 Eye comes to Japan first this Fall and pricing is yet to be determined.Hit jump for the official press release.
After 16 years of intensive research and development, James Dyson unveiled Dyson’s cyclonic robot vacuum cleaner in Tokyo today. The Dyson 360 Eye vacuum cleaner is an intelligent robot that is finally capable of cleaning properly, with more suction power than any other robot vacuum cleaner on the Japanese market*
Before: Get up. Go to work. Brave the commute home. Lug the heavy vacuum out of the closet. Unwind the cord. Pull it around and do the vacuuming. Hassle.
After: Get up. Go to work, and on the way, use your smart phone to schedule the Dyson 360 Eye™ vacuum to clean your home. Brave the commute. Come home to a clean house. Relax.
The Dyson 360 Eye™ robot vacuum cleaner will go on sale in Japan in spring 2015, with the rest of the world to follow later in the year.
James Dyson said: “Most robotic vacuum cleaners don’t see their environment, have little suction, and don’t clean properly. They are gimmicks. We’ve been developing a unique 360° vision system that lets our robot see where it is, where it has been, and where it is yet to clean. Vision, combined with our high speed digital motor and cyclone technology, is the key to achieving a high performing robot vacuum – a genuine labour saving device.”
Existing robot vacuums can have several problems:
Problem: Other robotic vacuums often neglect cleaning performance. In order to conserve battery life, they use weak, inefficient motors, meaning they have poor suction and pick up less dirt*.
Solution: Powered by the energy efficient V2 Dyson digital motor, the Dyson 360 Eye™ vacuum uses Radial Root Cyclone™ technology to effectively separate dust and dirt, capturing particles down to 0.5 microns – 600 times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. Dyson 360 Eye™ vacuum cleans better than any other robot vacuum cleaner the first time around*.
Problem: Without vision, many robots rely on blindly feeling out their environment and end up missing patches.
Solution: The Dyson 360 Eye™ vacuum sees its environment using a unique 360° vision system, and then builds a detailed floor plan to intelligently and systematically navigate around a room and tracks its position.
Infrared sensors work in conjunction with a lens on the top of the machine that houses a 360° panoramic camera. The camera can see all around the room at once so the machine can accurately triangulate its position. It then uses landmarks within the images to establish how it has moved between each frame and update its model of the environment accordingly.
Problem: Reliant on rotating sweepers to clear dirt, other robotic vacuums end up merely flicking particles around.
Solution: The brush bar on the Dyson 360 Eye™ vacuum cleaner extends to the full width of the machine, meaning that it doesn’t rely on side sweepers to reach the edges of the room. It uses patented carbon fibre brush bar technology to remove fine dust on hard floors, and stiff nylon bristles to agitate and clean carpets.
Problem: Other robots employ wheels to get around, so they struggle to overcome obstacles and traverse different floor types.
Solution: Like an all-terrain vehicle, continuous tank tracks enable the Dyson 360 Eye™ robot vacuum to maintain speed and direction across all floor types, and over small obstacles.
Dyson Link App: A new Dyson app for iOS and Android will let Dyson owners keep on top of cleaning – even if they are out of the house. Owners are also able to schedule the machine if they are out of the country, for example while on holiday allowing them to return from vacation to a clean home. Set up a single clean or a reoccurring cleaning schedule at the touch of a button.
You can see a 360 view of the Dyson robot by visiting www.dyson360eye.com. Watch videos of the development process behind the machine at www.youtube.com/DysonRobot