Dyson Preparing a Roomba Killer?

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?"

Lolz

Dyson is preparing a Roomba Terminator. Dyson must be stopped!

They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of years

It's called the DC06. This link is as good as any. [gizmag.com]

Re:They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of year

However according to this page http://www.roombareview.com/chat/archive.php/o_t__ t_2419__dyson-dc06-vaccum.html [roombareview.com] the DC06 has been canned because Mr Dyson wanted it to be clevererer. This is probably the reason behind the new hiring, the DC06 may be re-incarnated with more intelligence at a later date.

This has been a public service wossname

Re:They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of year

It can frustrating to watch a roomba "miss" a spot, but the roomba algorithm is actually quite sophisticated. I'm not sure you'd want/need better pathfinding. What I'd like is a solution that enabled the roomba to get into tighter corners, but this seems like an engineering challenge too far.

Re:They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of year

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 [xn--sailor-183m.com] 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.

Re:They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of year

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? :)

yawn

Dyson, the UK company that reinvented the vacuum cleaner

Yeah, they re-invented it to be the BOSE of vacuum cleaners. [obviousdiversion.com]

Yes, it's strange

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.

Re:Try Vacuum'ing

If you had read the blog entry (and the update) the GP linked to, you would've noticed that noone ever said that the Dyson hoovers were bad - quite the opposite. They apparently all received "very good" ratings; what the GP was trying to point out is that

a) The Dysons are not an order of magnitude better, as it often seems to be claimed;
b) In fact, in all tests, there were a number of other hoovers that were *better*;
c) In fact, those other hoovers were also *cheaper*.

So, no, a Dyson certainly isn't bad, but you can get an even better product for a lower price if you buy from another manufacturer, as long as you care about performance than about novel looks.

Re:Try Vacuum'ing

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.

Dyson is right...

Vacuums with filters *do* clog up after a while. That's why I recently spent $15 on a new filter for my $100 vacuum cleaner (which we purchased 6 years ago), and it's good as new. We could replace the filter every year, and it would take 20 years to cost as much as a $400 machine.

Bad gifts...

This is a bit off-topic, but I need to share the lesson I've learned.

NEVER give a woman a holiday present that has an electrical cord. You'll realize this the first time that she tells her friends that you gave her a vacuum for her birthday. Awkward to say the least! Perceptions of earrings, however, varies with whoever hears the story. A rich friend imagines those massive diamond dangly things.
If she says she wants a (corded) Dyson for Christmas, buy one for the house and then give her earrings.

Oh yeah, and yes, my wife, who stays home, actually likes when I give her those gifts that are hard to explain to friends. It's like giving her free time if I give her something that gets the job done faster.

Map creation

By "create their own maps" they mean they'll drop build a sphere and drop all the unwanted stuff inside, making the sphere larger when necessary. Eventually it will have its own landscape inside and enclose the Sun in the process.

Hope it's better than the dyson...

Everyone I know who bought a dyson regretted it. They were shoddy pieces of kit, incredibly shoddy when you consider the price.

Most vacuum cleaners will handle whatever you throw at them, our Henry has coped with brick dust, dog hair, dust, fluff, and being pulled and banged around the house all over the place. I know people who just use their dysons for occasional use who've had the wheels fall off the things.

Dyson's are a great idea, but I wouldn't buy one unless I hear they've worked out how robust comsumer devices nead to be.

Re:Hope it's better than the dyson...

If you look around, you'll notice that Henry cleaners are used by professionals in places like offices and hotels. The ones you buy in the retail shop are basically industrial-quality cleaners with an amusing face and will stand a considerable amount of abuse.

Dysons are designed to look pretty, and are heavily advertised. They are then built cheaply in the Far East. Suprisingly, they are a lot more expensive than the sturdier professional machines: I suppose a lot of money goes into advertising (or into Dyson's pocket).

Backpack Vacuum Cleaner

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.

The Real Roomba Killer

Stairs

Re:The Real Roomba Killer

Hmmm.. time to patent my roomba/slinky hybrid...

A sphere?

Hmm, would the Dyson model be a massive sphere built around a star that would allow the entire inner surface to be vacuumed?

When it comes to robots...

We might want to re-think our use of the verb 'killer' ..

I mean not that it's bad, just, rather disappointing when you realize the poster didn't mean a battle bots style show down in my living room!

Reliability more important

I've had a number of robovacs namely:

-Roomba, unsophisticated and unreliable

-Electrolux Trilobite, sophisticated and unreliable

-Siemens SensorCruiser(same vac as the Kärcher RC 3000), unsophisticated and reliable.

The roomba is well known, so no description is needed there. The Electrolux does room mapping with echolocation but has a bulky design so it gets stuck, it is noisy and on occasion it can't find its charger.

The Siemens is has two essential pieces - the robot and the base station. The robot is small, very robustly designed and quiet. The base station is not just a charger, but a vacuum cleaner that empties the robot. Its main feature however is reliability - it always returns to the base station. Basically it vacuums for a short period 20-30 minutes, goes back to the station, charges and empties and goes at it again. After the vacuum period, it has battery power to search for the station for two whole hours - meaning in practice that it always finds home.

At one time when I was on vacation, the Siemens was on for three straight weeks without failing. The roomba can hardly handle two hours without either getting stuck or missing the charger. The Electrolux can't go a whole day without a screw-up.

The big point with robovacs is that they can go at it for a long time. Sophistication is not a necessity as a semi-random search will cover the entire area given enough time. So ultimately reliability is far more important than advanced sensors and room mapping.

Not very happy about patents

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 :)

Two woods: hardwood flooring

One thing that constantly amazes me in today's increasing tech world, is that people will still tolerate carpet in the slightest. It is like a magnet and trap for dirt and parasites and odor. A hardwood floor is so much more hygenic, hypoallergenic, and easy to clean. If you think hardwood floors are expensive or cold, there have been great advances in the past ten years. Laminate hardwood flooring is great looking, cheap, and easy to install (click together floating floors, with minimal cutting; anyone who can use a saw can pretty much install ones). If you like the look/feel of ceramic tile, you can get them to look like this, too. There are new cheap (and safety approved) in-floor heating options for use with laminate floors, as well, for a very cosy heating option. And an area rug over a hardwood floor provides added comfort, and an easier to clean/replace option.

Yes, laminate hardwood isn't quite as classy as real hardwood, but it's darn close, and it's cheap, easy to install, and tough as nails (well, tougher, really).

I see carpets as something that will seem dusgusting, ancient, and obselete within a few years. It's interesting to see technology to take care of them advancing, when there are so many better options.

Ob quote

Slashdottor: ...a revolutionary type of vacuum cleaner...In three years, Dyson will become the largest supplier of robotic suction devices. All vacuum cleaners are upgraded with Dyson internals, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they clean up after us with a perfect operational record. The Dyson funding bill is passed. The system goes on-line on August 4th, 2007. Human decisions are removed from household cleaning. The Roomba replacement begins to learn, at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 am, eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

Sarah: DC06 fights back.

Slashdottor: Yes. They all dump their collective dust bunnies on targets in Russia.

John: Why attack Russia? The country's already a dump.

Slashdottor: Because Dyson knows that the Russian refugees fleeing the country will saturate the US work pool and eliminate jobs over here.

Sarah: Jesus.

Sorry, just had to.
Solomon

Re:ooh!

Do current Roombas pick up pet hair well? And do pets like them?

I have wall to wall carpets and two rather fluffy cats; not a good combination. I really need to vacuum two times a week or the place already starts to look messy.

That's where the Roomba comes in handy. It does an excellent job of dealing with cat hair on carpet, about as well as my Miele manual vacuum. I set it off twice a week to keep the place looking tidy. I do have the "advantage" of living in a smallish 3 room apartment so a single Roomba does me fine.

The cats don't mind the Roomba too much. One of them will just move to another room. The other will stay in the room, studiously ignoring the Roomba until it crosses her path, then she'll step out of the way giving the poor Roomba an annoyed, disdainful look.