Robot Vacuum Cleaners

The Past:

While we are waiting for an all-in-one personal robotic assistant, we can definitely get excited about the advanced robotic cleaning assistants that make our daily chores easier.

In the early stages of intelligent vacuums and robotic cleaners the technology was new and full of gaps. In fact, competitions have been held all over the world bringing different inventors and technologies together to explore what technology already existed out there and what work still needed to be done. Some vacuum robots would clean more efficiently than others, but did not have the navigation system to avoid children or pets, while others would get stuck in corners or be drained of power in just a few minutes.

Over the last decade the development of the household robotic appliance has taken leaps and bounds, and now we finally have efficient, although not perfect robotic appliances, which are more than just an adult toy for bragging rights.

Here are some good reads about the history of robotic vacuum cleaners:

Erwin Prassler, Arno Ritter, Christoph Schaeffer, Paolo Fiorini. 'A Short History of Cleaning Robots'. Auton. Robots, 2000: 211~226

Ja-Young Sung, Rebecca E. Grinter, Henrik I. Christensen, Lan Guo. 'Housewives or Technophiles?: Understanding Domestic Robot Owners'.

The Present:

Millions of people all over the world have integrated vacuum cleaning robots into their homes and cleaning closets, and their number is beginning to increase exponentially. At first, statistics suggested that buyers of robotic vacuum cleaners primarily bought one due to curiosity and the excitement of having a robot in their home. Demonstrations and gifts for others were also high on the list of reasons to buy. On that list, however, was not necessarily actual functionality or efficiency. One of the largest complaints currently out there in the blogosphere is the lack of practicality and the fact that most robot vacuums have had a problem of breaking down after a short period of time. Our developers at Bobsweep have looked into these complaints and have created an efficient and technologically-advanced robotic vacuum cleaner that we stand behind and support for a lifetime. This is while we are constantly improving our technology. Read bObsweep's vision for more insight on our goals and philosophy.

The Future

Just because we are not there yet, does not mean that we can’t get excited about the prospects of future cleaning technology! The future of cleaning is bound to get ever more exciting. Already in Silicon Valley, California The ReadyBot Challenge group has created an intelligent robot that can do some of the regular kitchen chores. It cannot do everything yet; but KAR (kitchen assistant robot) does do the dishes and empty the trash. This invention is still in its ‘first prototypes’ stage, but we can be assured that it’s being worked on and that there will be plenty of other KARs just like this one in the near future.

The advanced robot technology already allows for numerous applications in all parts of life, from on the line factory production to chemical detection to weapons development. When a soldier loses a hand in war, a new prosthetic arm with robot-like characteristics can now act as a substitute; granted, it’s not as functional as a real body part, but scientists are improving and perfecting the technology every day. One day, robots will be fully integrated into our lives for an abundance of purposes. For now, however, we can stick to intelligent robotics in the household.