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Electrolux Robot Vacuum Cleaner
An anonymous reader writes "Modelled on an ancient arthropod the Electrolux Trilobite is in stores from Friday and should cost around £999." It isn't the first robot vacuum, but they do claim it automatically recharges itself (which I don't think the Roomba does). And for only 8 times the price! A bargain. Electrolux's website has some more information.
This must be news about the US release.They (Trilobite) have been available in Europe and Sweden for two years. Very new(s) indeed.
Roomba has an add-on self charger. Around $50 if I remember, at Bed Bath & Beyond (or was it Linen's and Things? they look identicle to me when I get inside the door).
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Seriously ... this is cool!
Electrolux are a huge mainstream consumer goods company so that they have the balls to develop and market this is fantastic and it will spur others on, which will reduce costs and expand the market.
I'm 31 - when I was a child they promised us a life cast free from housework with more time for leisure.
While it's always been tantalisingly close, most products have been out of the reach of the general consumer, or produced by esoteric manufacturers that are not household names.
Now they are actually starting to deliver. I salut you, Electrolux!
The way you normally use the Roomba is you set the room up so the Roomba can't escape, and you let it go. It does the room, and then chirps when it's done (or stuck). If you don't lock the roomba into the room, it'll wander the whole house but not really get anything done since one charge (of either machine) is really only enough battery to do one room.
To automatically recharge, the charger would need to be in the same room as the vacuum cleaner. If you have two floors, or you have doors, steps, or other obstacles, I imagine that part of it wouldn't work so well - you'd have to keep hauling the charger around as well as the vacuum.
Also unless the AI is good enough that the thing really can navigate itself around a changing environment (hey there wasn't a dog there last time) and make it's way back to the charger before dying every time, I imagine you'd find a dead Trilobyte fairly frequently.
The Roomba normaly takes 12 hours to charge, but if you get the fast charger, it charges in an hour and a half. The fast charger is $69, but well worth it.
And if you buy it from http://www.hammacher.com, they give you a lifetime warranty! I'm wondering if they're going to regret that someday..
So unless this thing shows some other serious advantage over the Roomba, I can't see how it justifies the price..
And I'm not sure how they can say "While other firms have shown off prototype robot cleaners, Electrolux is the first to put one into production.", the Roomba has been on the market for a while now.
- Steve
The Roomba detects the steps and backs away from them. I stress tested this by putting it on a little landing - maybe 8 square feet of carpet with a precipice on one edge - and it did fine. Better than laying down magnetic strip all over..
this sucker looks a hell of a lot like the roomba, as stated in the post. we sell (or tried to sell) the roombas where I work for $199.99, and they sold like crapcakes. Nada. People want a vacuum that can hold more than a handful of dust.
I daresay this version will have the same problems owing largely to its short profile. no room! now, if part of the auto-charge trip included an auto-discharge (of waste tray contents) then I think more people might consider dropping that kind of money.
just my 19,999 cents. [tax not included]
el cobardo anonimo
Where as these things always suck. Large canister, hose attachment, high efficiency, no bags and great industrial design.
I've got the standard cylinder version but as soon as the robot verion is released in full I'm getting one.
Matt Thompson - Actuality - Insert product here.
I've used mine perhaps 20 times since I bought it, and it has a lot of problems now. Sometimes it just stops in the middle of the room and beeps its "I'm stuck" sound, even though its not.
Have you also cleared the brushes 20 times? I didn't think so. You're supposed to do that after every run. Wrapped up hair can provide enough friction that it thinks it's stuck.
this one can see stairs by itself without magnetic strips it also recharges itself, empty its dustbag and remembers where it has been ....
[the link is dutch and french only]
http://www.robocleaner.be/
Check out its stunning personality here. It bleeps, bloops, and whines while cleaning, which makes it about fifty times as personable as I am while I'm doing my chores.
This promotional site has been up for quite some time, so I had no idea it would take so long to get the Trilobite to market. Personally, I'd prefer a cuttlefish-like robot that swims around my sink and cleans my dishes while blub-blub-blubbing.
I heard a lecture from the CEO of Electrolux when this was in development five years ago, this is what he told us.
You are absolutely right about the reaching corners part. But apparently, they had done tests with people vacuuming and found that most people miss patches here and there. Thus while the robot does miss corners, it has slightly higher covering percentage overall.
Tor
That bit about the cat would make it worth it to me if I had a cat and didn't already have one...
I have a Roomba, and I love it..
It requires a fair amount of cleaning to keep it running right at first, but once you've gotten your carpet really clean, it doesn't pull up as much stuff during every cleaning if you let him run often enough. Once you get all the heavy dirt up, and there's not much to pick up, the Roomba really does well...
I've never noticed the Roomba having a problem getting the whole room, either. I think the wall detection thing is just a $2,000 gimmick.
/sig
I checked out the Trilobite in the shop a few months ago, and the first thing that struck me was the noise. You don't want to stay in the same room while it is doing it's thing...
Anyway, October 2002 I showed the Trilobite actually working in a stylish living-room type setting, actually a lounge area we set up in the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo for a few weeks of events. Electrolux was a sponsor. It was made almost entirely by Electrolux, with some changes for the Japanese market provided by Toshiba (mainly electrical and marketing I believe).
Here is a page in Japanese showing the Trilobite on sale for 268,000 yen. Not cheap for sure.
The unit is astounding when you try it, it navigates around table legs and goes under sofas, and starts up and shuts down by itself (and docks itself too). One of the areas they wanted to improve was to make it quieter so that may have been done already. (the Japanese page says 65dB) It is kind of like an Aibo that actually does work for you. It also walks around you, not the other way around.