Dyson Preparing a Roomba Killer? 243
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?"
Backpack Vacuum Cleaner (Score:5, Interesting)
ooh! (Score:3, Interesting)
Do current Roombas pick up pet hair well? And do pets like them? No-one I know owns a Roomba, they haven't really taken off here in Australia AFAIK...
Re:Hope it's better than the dyson... (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Try Vacuum'ing (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Yes, it's strange (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
No one mentioned Terminator 2 yet? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Try Vacuum'ing (Score:1, Interesting)
Maybe this is true where you live, but in the UK it's certainly not. Incidentally vacuum cleaners with a bag (and normally an air filter too) consistently top the ratings in the UK's Which? consumer organisation's recommended list. (Check out AEG and Miele).
I don't know how Dyson achieved such a reputation selling the machines that it does. It may have been a triumph of marketing over design. I suspect that, at least for UK sales, it's more than a little to do with the novelty of it being a startup British manufacturer. Not many of those about these days.
Re:Hope it's better than the dyson... (Score:1, Interesting)
The Henry, on the other hand, seems to clear everything.
But I take your point about the brushes.
Re:They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of year (Score:4, Interesting)
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:Try Vacuum'ing (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:They've had a robot vaccum for a couple of year (Score:4, Interesting)
If there is an irobot techie reading this, can that be so hard?
Not very happy about patents (Score:4, Interesting)
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
Re:yawn (Score:2, Interesting)
also don't forget to have great venting of the dryer, that little bit of wind resistance is what kills them. In my last home, I had they dryers vent into my greenhouse, worked like a charm and the snow would melt in the winter
Re:Somehow funny story (Score:2, Interesting)
You'd think these sophisticated consumer robots would be built to avoid situations like this. Don't they have sensors on the bottom? They should be sensing objects too large to vacuum up (like cat toys or cat feces) or liquid spills (water, juice, milk, cat urine) and moving around them. Instead of cleaning my floor, my Roomba vandalized my home. On top of it all, the insides of the thing are all gunked up, and I'M going to be the one cleaning it out and/or throwing parts away.
I've also noticed that it doesn't do well with transitioning from hardwood floors to carpets (doesn't seem to comprehend the idea of different thickness levels on the floor) or bathroom rugs (it tries to eat them). Doesn't the Roomba have spring-loaded offroad tires on it for a REASON? When picked up off the floor, these things pop out maybe an inch and a half!
I have one carpet with a checkered pattern on it, and the edges of the different checkers in the pattern confuse the Roomba, and it refuses to move across some of them, despite there being no difference in thickness or consistency of the fabric. I'd credit this phenomenon to a poor quality depth sensor, which probably, in actuality, looks for variances in light levels. Stupid.
In all, my Roomba Scheduler has been the worst purchase I've ever made.