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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.
I've heard these things kinda suck...
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Remember this quote from the article:
... when they turn against us.
Magnetic strips must be placed at doorways and near stairs to act as invisible walls and stop it plunging to its doom down a flight of steps.
What's this "vacuuming" technology you speak of?
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
Of course, being circular it can't vacuum corners, so you'll have to buy a seperate vac and do that bit yourself. What a fantastic design.
Does it make R2D2 noises?
"I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy"
Do stairs? Put itself away when it's done? For a grand, it better empty itself in the trash bin, too!
You have a girlfriend and you're reading slashdot? Begone, infidel!
Trolling is a art,
Vaccuuming is a great exercise. For us fat, lazy computer geeks, we can actually benefit from doing it.
100% Insightful
It's their only product that doesn't suck.
Thank you. I'll be here all week.
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. The battery has basically died to where it might run ten minutes on a full charge.
Its an interesting device, but I've not been terribly happy about how its aged in the six months I've had it...
Rectangular rooms. Result: dirty corners.
--- Ban humanity.
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.
the CEO of Electrolux (Michael Trechov) visited my engineering school in Sweden and told us about this new cool product - the robot vacuum cleaner. He was using a prototype at home.
I wonder what took them so long to go to market...
Tor
Besides, the only reason I would want one is if i could control it from work via internet and have it chase around the cats. (that would be great)
"Mr. President, we cannot allow a mineshaft gap!"
For cat-chasing from your desk at work, I suggest getting one of the little plantraco rovers, the internet control kit, and the wireless camera. Use webcam software and a cheap winTV vid cap card to stream video of what the rover "sees," and use the internet-connected controller to drive it around. They even have a demo of it where you can drive a rover at there office from your web browser here.
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.