Even if you relocated the vacuum and charging station prior to the next cleaning cycle, there wouldn’t be many issues in navigation. The Roomba 980 has a top mount video camera that allows it to map the cleaning area with a visual map. The iAdapt 2.0 technology stores this map rendering in the robot’s memory to allow it to clean more efficiently. It will note furniture location, obstacles and drops, ledges and stairs and remember their location for the next cleaning cycle. Compact, powerful cleaning with Ball™ technology to easily navigate under furniture and around obstacles.
The main difference is that unlike the forward facing camera of the 980, the 360 Eye looks around 360 degrees at all times, constantly updating the map and navigation modules in the robot’s computer. On most floors with a simple and open layout, this 45 minutes should be plenty. However, the vacuum goes in ten-foot grid areas to cover the floor, ensuring it covers every possible square foot. If you have a complex floor plan or have a lot of furniture, the grids will get interrupted, and the robot will have to find a new route. Of course, those could be trade-show tricks, which is why we’re looking forward to getting the 360 Eye in for more comprehensive testing.
There’s a solid product guide built into the app that runs through the features, which bit does what, maintenance and troubleshooting. There is also an option to have Dyson come round to your house and install it for you. The dock is a simple white stand with chrome strips on to which the robot drives to charge. Two black and white shark cordless checkered squares help the robot see the dock and come back to it when it needs a top up, which it will do mid-clean if its doing more than one room. Excess cable can be stored in the power adapter, keeping it from getting sucked up by the robot. At the Institute we have often been impressed by the power of Dyson vacuums.
The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries. How long they will work before you need to empty them depends on the size of your home and how messy the people living there are. But expect to empty them every 1-3 runs and you won’t be disappointed. According to iRobot, it makes 60 navigational decisions per second, and having watched it work through a tangle of chair legs we’re happy to believe it.
Another design aspect that sets Dyson’s robo cleaners apart is the the tank track wheels. The idea here is to make sure the robot doesn’t get stuck climbing up on rugs and the like. (Pocket-lint) – Dyson appears to be readying a new robot vacuum, possibly for US release, as evident by Federal Communications Commission filings of an announced robovac.
But when I pressed the trigger to activate the vacuum, my mouth gaped open and I began spewing profanities. Dyson’s $700 V15 Detect has a laser that illuminates dust normally shark cordless invisible to the human eye. To my horror, the laser showed that every inch of the floor in every room of the house was blanketed in a light layer of dog fur.
And if the vacuum gets stuck, the app notifies you and includes instructions on how to fix it. Once the Roomba i7+ memorizes your floor plan, it cleans well without too much maintenance. You can technically go months without having to empty the canister on the dock. It’s also a top option for pet owners because of its ability to pick up hair.
If there is a small obstacle in the path, such as a sock, the wheels will go over it with relative ease. The Roomba 980 uses the iHome mobile app on any Android or iOS device. The app is a free download and is not essential for using the vacuum; however, it is a lot easier.
When set to max or high power we found it to be a pretty loud machine, but this was worth it for the seriously impressive suction power which was a stand-out feature and provided a deep clean every time. We also liked that you could monitor the robot’s progress remotely via the app – we could see exactly where it has cleaned and how long it took. A perfect choice if you’re on a budget, the ECOVACS robot vacuum has a lot of the features of premium-range models at a more affordable price. It works on hard floor and carpet, has drop-detect sensors and automatically self-charges.