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Dyson Preparing a Roomba Killer?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the products-that-suck dept.

An anonymous reader writes "New Scientist's technology blog reports that Dyson, the UK company that reinvented the vacuum cleaner, is recruiting robotics engineers. They're looking for people with experience of machine vision and mobile robots that create their own maps. Is Dyson hoping to take on the Roomba with a much more sophisticated machine?"

9 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. Backpack Vacuum Cleaner by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The people who clean my office walk around with a vacuum cleaner on their back and a cord trailing behind. I wonder if this will ever catch on for household use. It's surely a lot more practical than dragging the vacuum cleaner along behind you.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  2. Re:Hope it's better than the dyson... by moggie_xev · · Score: 3, Interesting
    OK I have had a Dyson for 12 years.

    The first one died after 26 months they fixed it for free, when it was out of the 2 year warranty

    I have recently bought a second one when one of the bits fell off after another 9 years.

    They are solid vac's that can pick up my wife's long hair from the carpet.

  3. Try Vacuum'ing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ask a programmer about programming not a consumer magazine. I have to do the vacuuming in my house (working wife), Dyson cylinder is our vacuum cleaner for the last year and I ain't switching! Before that we had the Samsung Cylinder (the clone of the Dyson) but I broke the catch that holds the cylinder in place (crappy cheap plastic), no seal means no cyclone.

    Go to your electrical shop and they don't sell bag cleaners anymore, all you see is the cyclone ones. All that BS from Hoover about how good bags are and how bad cyclone's are, has gone now that they can all make cyclone ones. The bag clogs, people who vacuum know this!

    Ask your wife, erm Girlfriend, erm that bloke on MSN Messenger that pretends to be the hot chick, what they think about vacuum cleaners before you buy one.

    1. Re:Try Vacuum'ing by MartinG · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They sell more cyclone vacuums now because that what the public have been brainwashed into demanding. If you want a real opinion, ask someone who spends most of their days vacuuming. For example, try finding an office cleaning company that uses dysons. You can't. They don't. Dyson's are not robust and not good value and not the best at what they do.

      They are however very good cleaners for your typical household, but still not the best value and arguably not the best cleaner overall.

      Dyson hoovers are one of the most succesful marketing efforts in recent times. Everyone has fallen for it. All they had to do was make a machine that was above average and then convince the world it was unique and they did it brilliantly.

      Well done to them, not on producing a brilliant cleaner, but on excelling at business and marketing.

      --
      -- MartinG To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz .@adgimnoprstu
  4. Yes, it's strange by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Consumer Reports gives it pretty poor ratings gives many cheaper more conventional vacs better ratings. Maybe their tests are off, or like an iPod - it simply gives the user a better experience while being technically inferior in some places.

    I usually trust CR's ratings in several categories, but I have yet to put together how the vacuum revolutionized the industry (just look at the models offered in Walmart/Target/Kmart vs 10 yrs back - they are all Dyson copies now) with its poor showing.

    Maybe it's the vacuum, or maybe it's the magazine that is at fault.

  5. No one mentioned Terminator 2 yet? by sethmeisterg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Miles Dyson! Didn't he create the precursor to the T-200 using the chips from the first Schwarzzenegger crushed in that press-thingie?

  6. Re:They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of year by Rosyna · · Score: 3, Interesting

    but the roomba algorithm is actually quite sophisticated.

    Clearly it's very sophisticated. You can easily notice this when the Roomba twirls around in a position for an hour and a half in areas less than 9 squared feet.

    I'm not saying the roomba is bad... it could just be a LOT smarter.

  7. Re:They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of year by myowntrueself · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What I'd like to see is a firmware upgrade for roomba which made it go back to its base station to recharge when its battery gets low and when its fully charged go off and start cleaning again.

    If there is an irobot techie reading this, can that be so hard? :)

    --
    In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  8. Not very happy about patents by Builder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It brought a large smile to my face when I opened the box on my original Dyson (DC08 maybe?) and found along with the instructions for use, a rant about patents and how little they helped when he had to fight a bigger company.

    From what I can tell, even though he had patented all of his work, it still cost him an arm and a leg to stop Hoover from just copying and destroying him.

    Having said that, I'll never go back to another vacuum cleaner. It's sad, but Dyson has seriously increased the quality of my life. The pet brush and power attachment for the one I have made my house a LOT cleaner than before, and instead of 2 hours (sweep carpets THEN vacuum), I'm now down to 1 hour to do the whole job. And I'm healthier :)