Toward a Clean Sweep, Without the Human Touch

New York Times ^ | March 4, 2004 | JEFFREY SELINGO

[fdsa2]

HOUSEKEEPING is hard work, so for companies that sell cleaning products, the mantra is ease of use. Just witness the recent popularity of the Swiffer, a mop with disposable wipes.

Now a different kind of convenience has come to the ultimate cleaning tool, the vacuum cleaner. Two robotic models, the Roomba and the Karcher Robo Vacuum Cleaner, are available in the United States, and in May they will be joined by the Trilobite, an automatic vacuum that is already sold in Europe.

While the idea of a vacuum that cleans while its owner does almost anything else may sound appealing, the robotic models are in many ways like early dishwashers and washing machines, said Carolyn Forte, the director of home care at the Good Housekeeping Institute in New York. That is, initially, they don't measure up to what they replaced.

"People who washed dishes and clothes by hand probably didn't think dishwashers and washing machines worked very well when they were introduced," she said. "But now we can't live without them."

For now, Ms. Forte said, the robotic vacuums are best at picking up surface dirt and dust, and - because of their slick disk shape - at reaching places that some vacuums can't get to, like under the sofa. But the robotic sweepers don't do stairs or cushions, they are not as powerful as conventional vacuums, and they sometimes miss spots. So for deep cleaning, Ms. Forte said, "you unfortunately still have to drag out the old vacuum cleaner."

The traditional upright vacuum has been undergoing upgrades to help it compete with the robotic newcomers. In the last decade, vacuum technology has changed a great deal, said Annette Bravard, the vice president for marketing at Hoover, with the introduction of the bagless sweeper and dirt-detection and filtration systems. The dirt-detection system, for instance, uses a tiny microphone to detect dirt. When the microphone no longer senses that dirt is being picked up, a light alerts the user to move to another area of the floor.

Those extra touches are nice, but above all, Ms. Bravard said, what sells a vacuum is performance. "In the end, it has to clean well," she said.

That is why Hoover does not have a robotic model, she said. "It's a piece of our future, but we're more worried about performance at this point," she said.

While Ms. Bravard envisages that robotic vacuums will eventually become popular, engineers must first develop means for them to clean stairs or furniture, she said.

In modifying the robotic Trilobite for sale in the United States, the Swedish manufacturer, Electrolux, had to make adjustments to the wheels and brush roller so that the device could work on many kinds of floor surfaces, said John Huebsch, the testing and certification manager for the Electrolux U.S.A., in Bloomington, Ill. The original robot was designed primarily to clean hardwood floors, which are prevalent in Europe.

The Trilobite "was designed to be worry-free," said Dan Hinrichsen, an assistant brand manager for Electrolux U.S.A. For instance, if the Trilobite, which uses ultrasound to help navigate, senses that its batteries are about to run down, it will find its way back to its base for recharging.

Such convenience comes at a price. Electrolux expects to sell the vacuum for around $2,000 in the United States. (The Roomba, which is manufactured by the iRobot Corporation of Burlington, Mass., sells for $200 to $250 depending on the model; the Karcher Robo Vacuum Cleaner, made by a German company, costs $1,495 at www.frontgate.com.)

Ms. Bravard of Hoover said that as the prices of the robotic devices drop, some people will want to buy them as a second vacuum to use between weekly cleanings. "There will always be a group of consumers who take pride in a clean home, who enjoy the end results, and will want to do the task themselves," she said.

[fdsa2]

Will scare the life out of your dog/cat.

The Trilobite (http://trilobite.electrolux.co.uk/)

[Charles Henrickson]

Trilobite:

a. person with a trifurcated ear
b. pertaining to a Roman Catholic council of the Counter-Reformation
c. prehistoric homo semi-erectus
d. international commission that secretly runs the world
e. one trillion units of computer memory
f. malalignment of the teeth

[nmh]

Over priced and not very effiicient. Gets caught on things.

[Doctor Stochastic]

g. none of the above

[fdsa2]

e) "Three headed one"

f) More poetically "Butterflies of the Sea"

It works ok on a wooded floor, of course you can´t have stuff lying around (it´s not your mother...) but vacuuming wise is fine.

[fdsa2]

LOL sorry,

h)
i)

[Charles Henrickson]

[JenB]

Yes, but this is the first generation of the things. In five years...

I remember reading Heinlein's "Door Into Summer", which predicted such household cleaning robots. Only he was four decades too early. Oh well. Maybe my kids will never have to be told to vacuum their rooms.

[martin_fierro]

Trilobite:
d. international commission that secretly runs the world

THAT'S HOW THEY'RE GONNA KEEP THEIR EYES ON US!!!!!

< /hyperventilate >

(though I won't mind if it can find where my socks keep disappearing)

[martin_fierro]

OK, this article is pretty funny: This Robot Sucks: My Adventures with Ralph the Roomba