Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2014/09/04/dyson_robot_vacuum_cleaner/

Video: Dyson unveils robotic tank that hoovers while you're out

360 Eye 2015 launch: Millions of pounds, hundreds of patents

By Brid-Aine Parnell

Posted in Personal Tech, 4th September 2014 13:28 GMT

Youtube Video

Dyson has duly come clean on its new robotic vacuum cleaner today, after teasing the launch in a video last week.

The Dyson 360 Eye has come about after 16 years of “intensive R&D”, according to the British firm, and the company reckons it will blow other robotic slave hoovers out of the water.

“Most robotic vacuum cleaners don’t see their environment, have little suction, and don’t clean properly. They are gimmicks,” James Dyson sniffed.

“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,” he claimed.

The firm says that the 360 Eye builds up a detailed floor plan of rooms it needs to navigate and can track its own position. The machine minion does this using infrared sensors and a panoramic camera that can see the whole room at once, allowing it to triangulate its position. The vacuuming apparatus also uses landmarks in the room to figure out how much it has moved.

The 360 Eye has been designed to be an all-terrain hoover, with continuous tank tracks instead of wheels to let it get over small obstacles.

And, of course, the machine also comes with iOS and Android apps, so you can instruct your servile automaton when you’re not even home.

“They can even schedule the machine if out of the country and on holiday – returning from vacation to a clean home,” the firm said smugly.

Inventor James Dyson’s firm has always proclaimed its kit as the next big thing and this launch was no different. However, the Brit company has put its money where its mouth is, saying it invested £28m and the time of more than 200 of its engineers in developing the 360 Eye and spaffed another £150m on coming up with the Dyson Digital Motor.

The company said it had lodged over 420 patents and patent applications related to the technology used in the robot, including the new motor.

The cleaning contraption will be launched first in Japan in spring next year and in the rest of the world later in 2015. ®