back to article Video: Dyson unveils robotic tank that hoovers while you're out

Youtube Video Dyson has duly come clean on its new robotic vacuum cleaner today, after teasing the launch in a video last week. The Dyson 360 Eye has come about after 16 years of “intensive R&D”, according to the British firm, and the company reckons it will blow other robotic slave hoovers out of the water. “Most robotic …

  1. A Twig

    What we all want to know is: Can it deal with stairs?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Re : Can it deal with stairs?

      Not unless you want it to come upstairs and exterminate you...

    2. J. R. Hartley

      Can it deal with cat poo?

      I read recently a story a about a robotic hoover spreading cat poo in a lovely spiral over every inch of the living room, and never working properly again. I can't get that image out of my head. I guess you could call it a cat-ass-trophey.

      1. Matt 21

        Re: Can it deal with cat poo?

        Not a bad point.

        I also can't see how it will pull the settee out, pick up my sons dirty socks, shut the door behind it so it can vacuum behind the door, pick the DVDs up off the floor and put them back on the shelf, do the dusting first or shout at the kids to tidy their rooms.

        Mind you, on the other hand it probably won't whinge about how it's the only one who does anything in this house..... unless it's called Marvin.

        1. proud2bgrumpy

          Re: Can it deal with cat poo?

          I guess it only cleans - presumably leaving room for a v2 that will also tidy up...

  2. Piro Silver badge

    A true Roomba competitior..

    .. Except not, because it can't clean under your sofa.

    1. MrXavia

      Re: A true Roomba competitior..

      The roomba is a bit rubbish.... ok for hard floors but not carpets...

      I'd say take a look at the LG hombot, best robotic vacuum cleaner i've found, and it IS a real vacuum, not a sweeper like most....

      This dyson looks a bit too tall to be practical under low chairs or even low tables...

      1. Mark 65

        Re: A true Roomba competitior..

        I just couldn't bring myself to tell people I'd brought a hombot though.

        Regarding "The Dyson 360 Eye has come about after 16 years of “intensive R&D”, according to the British firm, and the company reckons it will blow other robotic slave hoovers out of the water."

        In terms of price I have zero doubt it will blow everything out of the water including my car.

        1. Dr. Mouse

          Re: A true Roomba competitior..

          In terms of price I have zero doubt it will blow everything out of the water including my car.

          I may just be blowing hot air (ba da boom, ching) but I think I heard that it was going to cost about £750.

          If so, it doesn't quite blow my car (£700) out of the water, but it does beat it.

        2. N13L5

          16 Years of intensive R&D for more than just another vacuum cleaner

          "The Dyson 360 Eye has come about after 16 years of “intensive R&D”, according to the British firm, and the company reckons it will blow other robotic slave hoovers out of the water."

          For sure, cause a lot of the R&D went into taking continuous 360 video of your house with its EYE, record any conversations and send them back to MI6 and NSA with a scrambled, undetectable, frequency hopping sender that looks like a vacuum cleaner brush.

          It can also emit poison gas if intelligence suspects that you've been bad.

          1. Mark 65

            Re: 16 Years of intensive R&D for more than just another vacuum cleaner

            @N13L5: I keenly await the first story of a householder being blackmailed by their vacuum for, ahem, what they did the other evening.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A true Roomba competitior..

        Mine is fine for carpets. It's much better than an 11 or 12 year old with a full sized dyson anyway....

    2. fajensen

      Re: A true Roomba competitior..

      It can with the optional Chainsaw Attachment!

      1. VinceH

        Re: A true Roomba competitior..

        "It can with the optional Chainsaw Attachment!"

        Or make the version two a little more like this - both in appearance and what it does.

      2. Medical Cynic

        Re: A true Roomba competitior..

        Cutting the legs off will reduce the gap, surely?

        It needs a jacking attachment.

    3. petur

      Re: A true Roomba competitior..

      Or the Samsung navibot, has had a camera to navigate for some years now, and works fairly well (hard floors only here)

      1. Number6

        Re: A true Roomba competitior..

        Or the Neato,with its laser scanner for navigation and brush positioned where it stands a chance of cleaning in the corners.

        Wonder what the battery life of the Dyson tank is - there's a reason the rest of the market has less suction.

    4. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Rob
    Coat

    Surely the start of...

    ... hoover wars, someone let Craig Charles know.

  4. Alan_Peery

    420 patent applications

    This seems to be a "throw a handfull of darts and maybe one will hit" approach.

    1. Tom 38
      Joke

      Re: 420 patent applications

      420 patent applications...

      "A method of blowing glass to create a system for cooling and diffusing airborne solid and liquid particulates and gasses resulting from combustion of plant matter"

      "A method of arranging sheets of gummed rice paper in an innovative fashion in order to create conical tubes of plant matter"

      "A method of controlling a heating element in order to keep the contents of a crucible at between 126°C and 186°C in an enclosed container"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 420 patent applications

        That's only three...

        1. dan1980

          Re: 420 patent applications

          @AC

          I think Tom's point was that the way you get 420 patents from a vacuum cleaner that uses a bunch of existing concepts, is to split each any every conceivable 'invention' into the smallest possible parts and then describe each of these through several patents covering every aspect of their construction, functionality and design.

          And, you do it all in torturously complicated language designed to obscure the fact that what you are describing is completely obvious or simply an overly specific refinement of a pre-existing concept.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: 420 patent applications

            Much simpler than that - he's taking the "420" and talking about weed.

          2. Tom 38
            Alien

            Re: 420 patent applications

            I think Tom's point was that the way you get 420 patents from a vacuum cleaner that uses a bunch of existing concepts, is to split each any every conceivable 'invention' into the smallest possible parts

            No, it was really just about getting baked. Weekend anyone?

            Nuke smoking alien from Mars Attacks! --->

      2. James Anderson

        Re: 420 patent applications

        bong, joint and chillum -- a little help for those of you who spent there time at unuversity reading books.

      3. N13L5

        Re: 420 patent applications

        I can see how 90% of the money didn't go into the vacuum cleaner but was spent on patent fees and lawyers. I wonder how many engineers quit through this project...

        .

        Unless, of course ...if it can vacuum up plant matter, combust it, convert it to a gas and spread it all around the room. In that case, they probably all stayed on...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fruitless?

    Dyson is surely the Apple of home appliances..... and I don't intend that as a compliment.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Fruitless?

      Either way, it's quite an entertaining industry to be in. Whatever you produce, at whatever standard, it sucks.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Fruitless?

        Comparing Apple and Dyson? LOL. Dyson are shit! How many Dyson DC01 are now in landfill? I can tell you! All of them!

  6. Tanuki

    I wonder if it's smart enough to survive an attack from a sexually-frustrated Jack Russell Terrier?

    1. SuccessCase

      If, when it returns to base for a recharge, the plastic waste compartment is full of sticky matted red fluff, assume no.

    2. Shawn Grinter

      You think you've got problems.... I have a Great Dane!

      1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

        Try a double-coated Husky. They never seem to stop moulting, and the soft under-fur is great at gumming up the brushes of a vacuum cleaner.

      2. Unep Eurobats

        Re: I have a Great Dane

        That'll keep your socks tidy.

  7. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Boffin

    Is it...

    less than 1600W?

    1. Stella Duvel
      Mushroom

      Re: Is it...

      Provided the charger is no more than 1600 watt, who is going to know?

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Is it...

      All current Dysons are under 1600W.

  8. K
    Joke

    With suction so powereful..

    It will clean out your wallet and bank account at point of purchase!

  9. circusmole
    Happy

    I'm a slob...

    ...will it be able deal with the shoes, computer bag, shopping bag,dirty socks, etc, that I tend to leave lying around the house? Will it tidy up after me? Like Dyson said - it's just a gimmick if it can't.

    1. dotdavid

      Re: I'm a slob...

      This. We bought a Roomba a couple of years ago, not to be a main vacuum cleaner (it's basically just a motorised brush) but to sort of help out when it came to pet hair and stuff.

      It had enormous problems with our cluttered British home; it was too wide to drive under the table between the chairs, it occasionally would drive onto some toy the cats had been playing with and get stuck, it got lost trying to find its charging station so would leave the job half-done and it had a very small dust-bin so you'd have to empty it frequently anyway. So now it's sitting there gatheri... no I won't go there ;-)

      Judging by the Dyson demo video, they're also testing their version in large open spaces so I'm doubtful they've solved the problem.

      I love the idea of a vacuum cleaner that is automatic, but I don't think they've really made much progress since my Roomba was released.

    2. TRT Silver badge

      Re: I'm a slob...

      Judging by the room space in the promo video, there will be a lot of unemployed cleaners at IKEA stores across the land. Fleet of these patrolling the idealised, minimalistic neo-spaces of their warehouses... actually, will they play nice with other Dysobots?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I'm a slob...

        actually, will they play nice with other Dysobots?

        An interesting question: in the hypothetical case I would have enough money and would be willing to waste on a number of Dyson bots, would it be possible to reprogram them with fight and evade tactics, augmented with laser "rifles"? Regular hoovering may be improved by Dyson, but it's still a painfully boring thing to watch - much more interesting if they were able to chase each other and do battle in some form. You'd also never know what you'd find when you get back home...

      2. Sporkinum

        Re: I'm a slob...

        The hospital I worked at basically had a carpet Zamboni. http://www.windsorind.com/ViewCategories.aspx?Pid=1291

        1. Jan 0 Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: I'm a slob...

          Carpet Zamboni? Well, Zamboni was famous for his pile*.

          *an extra high tension battery. I first came upon one in a WWII, Government Surplus, Image Intensifier.

    3. Badvok

      Re: I'm a slob...

      Or even worse - the dreaded bobby pin!

      Having two girls leaving these things laying around has made me spend far too much time extracting mangled bits of metal from hoovers.

      1. dan1980

        Re: I'm a slob...

        @badvok

        I have a very efficient method for removing metal objects from the carpet - it's called "walking around barefoot".

        Not without downsides, I'll admit . . .

  10. Rich 11

    Sucks more

    But if it can't also polish my shoes while it's down there, I don't care how good it is at sucking.

    1. Dan Paul

      Re: Sucks more

      Sounds as if you need to re-arrange your priorities?

    2. earl grey
      Trollface

      Re: Sucks more

      Maybe not your shoes, but if it can climb doors with the tracks, it can polish your knob.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sucks more

        Maybe not your shoes, but if it can climb doors with the tracks, it can polish your knob.

        Not sure I'd want to be caught in those brushes though - I know where it's been.

  11. MacGuru

    sounds neato

    My neato vx-21 ( yes the name is off-putting ) laser scans and builds up a picture of the room. Navigates the whole flat and returns to charge, even when I moved the charge bay to another room.

    Its vastly superior to the old roomba that was dumber than Adam Sandler movie.. and sucked just as much..

    I'm sure the Dyson will be good.. but you can pick up a neato for a lot less..

    1. Shawn Grinter

      Re: sounds neato

      I too have a Neato, fab machine and it *will* do under most tables and sofas - by the look of the Dyson which is much taller I suspect it won't. However the tank tracks look pretty cool and deffo better than the Neato wheels which occasionally get stuck.

      Mind you if the Dyson say "Exterminate" I'm buying one regardless :-)

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: sounds neato

        Neato...*will* do under most tables and sofas"

        I've seen a few people mentioning that. Every sofa I've ever owned and the vast majority of the ones I've seen have an inch or two clearance above floor level. Unless a lot of people have 1930's wooden legged sofas or modernistic chrome tube things then I'm not sure how Neato or Roomba manage to clean underneath them

        Personally, I prefer nice big soft sofas I can slouch properly on without it reminding me of the doctors couch ;-). Also handy for when you need small change in a hurry. If there's none down the back of the cushions, there's sure to be some on the floor underneath where no vacuum cleaner dares to suck!

        Anyway, I do like the look of the Dyson robot, even though I know it could never cope in our house.

        1. GrizzlyCoder

          Re: sounds neato

          If my sofa is only inches above ground then I don't really care what's underneath it...I ain't gonna shift it anytime soon and what I can't see doesn't matter.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: sounds neato

      "My neato vx-21 ( yes the name is off-putting ) ...."

      Well Dyson have messed up calling a vacuum cleaner a "360 eye". If it's got tracks then they should have called it the Dyson Kursk, and given the design a suitable khaki theme. And they could have offered an expensive version with metal tracks, deliberately devoid of lubricant in order to move with a menacing squeaking and clanking (and an extra cost option of a built in speaker playing a quiet soundtrack of a 26 litre diesel). I'd have one of those.

      Of course, the marketing dweebs who specified it have no imagination and probably no knowledge of history, so none of that was ever on the cards, but they could at least have called it the Dyson Panther, which has pleasant overtones of grace, speed and strength amongst those who don't have a Commando war comic moment when the term "Panther" gets mentioned.

    3. IDoNotThinkSo

      Re: sounds neato

      Yup, another Neato here. Dyson marketing off on another planet again.

      One day I might take the lidar out and re-purpose it. Its the cheapest way to acquire one!

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: sounds neato

      My neato vx-21 ( yes the name is off-putting ) laser scans and builds up a picture of the room.

      Would be interesting to add a 2W laser - it could act as a sentry. Or gradually strip your wallpaper :)

    5. Phil Endecott

      Re: sounds neato

      I also have a Neato. It's great, but I think we're probably a couple of generations from widespread use. The neato cleans well (and the recent stories about 1600W cleaners made me laugh - if this can manage on battery power, how can anyone need 1600W?). But no it can't pick up socks, it will tanlge on wires (and pull phones off shelves), and it won't get close to walls or corners. Actually this has made me a more tidy person than I was before - it has trained me! I certainly prefer to spend a few seconds picking things up and maybe moving furniture a bit, rather than actually pushing a hoover around. As a result my house is both tidier and cleaner than it was before.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Terminator

        Re: sounds neato

        "Actually this has made me a more tidy person than I was before - it has trained me!"

        That's just the beginning. You forgot the icon ---------------->

    6. Persiflage

      Re: sounds neato

      Another vote for the Neato here. Thing is incredible... and it navigates with FRIKKIN' LASER BEAMS! Seriously, Dyson's 360-degree eyes are creepy-sounding (recalling, to my mind at least, certain childhood nightmares about my primary-school teachers who claimed similarly ubiquitous ocularity) and lame by comparison. If it had laser eye-beams, I might rethink, but just "eyes"? Meh. And it's too tall; it won't get under the furniture like the Neato can. That little baby is great, and copes well with random stuff left scattered around.

      The biggest drawback of the Dyson, though, is that it doesn't appear to be a form factor that will appeal to cats. If it's too tall and narrow for cats to choose as a perching spot, it loses automatically in the cute-video stakes... Clearly this is an important factor, as cat-related photogenicity was basically all the Roomba had going for it, and look how well it sold.

  12. CAPS LOCK

    ... so the same as the Electrolux Trilobite then...

    ... that died the death - I'm guessing this will too. Anyone remember the Dyson washing machine?

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: ... so the same as the Electrolux Trilobite then...

      Contra-rotating drum / clothes shredder? Yeah. How are those nowadays? And the Dyson air-slice that slices and skins your hand using hot air whilst simultaneously deafening anything within 10 yards?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: ... so the same as the Electrolux Trilobite then...

      yeah we were looking for a washing machine about 10 years ago and ask in the store about the Dyson, was told to avoid and get a siemens or meile. We got the siemens and its still going strong 10 years later. Although I expect it to break soon as it came with a 10 year, YES that's a 10 year warranty, which has just expired!

    3. Down not across

      Re: ... so the same as the Electrolux Trilobite then...

      Anyone remember the Dyson washing machine?

      Yes. I had the CR01. It was actually very good washing machine. And at the time the only one with a large door and a large drum. Dyson's customer service for that was second to none. They kept upgrading the firmware and replacing all kinds of bits for no charge. Sadly in the end it succumbed to the drum rusting (yeah the split drum had a serious issue with that) and eventually seizing up. And the drum was from third party and the only part they no longer were able to replace due to no drums being available.

      1. MJI Silver badge

        Re: ... so the same as the Electrolux Trilobite then...

        Ours started getting issues, I could have spent £100 or so doing it up but how long before the bearings went?

        Dampers were going, other bits were getting near EOL.

        Had it quite a long time though.

        Got a Bosch now

      2. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: ... so the same as the Electrolux Trilobite then...

        Washing machine drums need to be made of either 318 Stainless steel or a suitable thermoplastic.

        Anything else is just asking for trouble considering what conditions they're expected to operate under.

        1. bonkers

          Re: ... so the same as the Electrolux Trilobite then...

          Dyson Airblade hand-dryer

          Sounds better in a Glaswegian accent

          "how's the earbleed technology getting on"

          seriously I've never heard anything quite as loud, especially in the high frequencies, its easy for the hands to operate as whistles well into the 10's of kHz. It sounds to me a lot more damaging than the live performance SPL limits.

  13. Bob Dunlop

    Tracks and a camera.

    How long before those tracks come off on a tight corner ?

    Can you access the camera output remotely ? Can others !

    Remember Q's toy robot spy from A View to a Kill ?

  14. Khaptain Silver badge

    Sy Borg

    Dyson should have spoken to Frank Zappa about Sy Borgs, the ones that look like Telefunken U-47, and their sexual appendages, the patents would have been a whole lot different.

    1. Anomalous Cowturd
      Happy

      Re: Sy Borg

      You'll love it!

      With leather?

      I'm happy to say it's my teenage daughter's favourite Zappa track, and I'm now going to be singing it to myself for the rest of the day. Happy times.

      Brilliant album. Joe's Garage Act II if you're interested.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sy Borg

        Your teenage daughter's favorite tune is Zappa's song "Crew slut" ...and I suppose you introduced her to it :p

        At any rate, I thought that song had long since passed from what little public exposure it had, since its was successfully kept out of any of his "best of" compilations, not to mention that such lyrics just don't fly in the United States...

  15. Tempest8008

    I hereby name this...

    The Dyson Bentusi.

    'cause, you know....it looks like one.

    (Google Homeworld and Bentusi if you don't know what I'm talking about...and shame on you if that's the case)

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Still missing critical feature

    Non of these robot vacuums empty their bins out requiring daily human interaction. I have given up on such robot until this has been implemented.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Still missing critical feature

      "Non of these robot vacuums empty their bins out requiring daily human interaction. I have given up on such robot until this has been implemented."

      A software fix should enable it to identify the cat flap, reverse up to the flap and engage reverse thrust? Admittedly it'll make a mess outside until the wind blows, but I can tolerate that.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Still missing critical feature

        A software fix should enable it to identify the cat flap, reverse up to the flap and engage reverse thrust? Admittedly it'll make a mess outside until the wind blows, but I can tolerate that.

        And you have a 360° camera to ensure it only does that when the cat is well within range..

      2. Red Bren
        Paris Hilton

        Re: Still missing critical feature

        "A software fix should enable it to identify the cat flap, reverse up to the flap and engage reverse thrust? Admittedly it'll make a mess outside until the wind blows, but I can tolerate that."

        I bet your cat won't!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Still missing critical feature

      If the experience I've had, and that of quite a few people I know, emptying the bin shouldn't be a problem with a Dyson product, it'll have broken before the bin is full.

      Admittedly these reliability issues were a few years ago, we all bought non-Dyson vacuums after our collective experiences. Maybe their more reliable now?

      1. IDoNotThinkSo

        Re: Still missing critical feature

        Judging by the local council recycling skip, no.

        1. Anomalous Cowturd
          Boffin

          Re: Still missing critical feature

          In my experience with Dysons, the motors burn out rather quickly.

          £20 on Amazon, and half an hour with YouTube and a long shank #15 Torx and you're sorted.

          Certainly better than a £250+ replacement.

          HTH.

          ;o)

          1. Tanuki

            Re: Still missing critical feature

            Here at Scrotum Towers cleaning duties are performed by a German-made "Sebo". It was bought after a quick chat with my machine-room contract-cleaning provider-of-the-month. I weorked on the basis that if you're paid a fixed amount to do a job you'll want tools that let you complete it in the shortest-possible time so you can pay your minimum-wage cleandroids the least-possible.

            So far the Sebo's been brilliant.

            [His other cleaner suggestion was a Nilfisk-Advance - which I have to admit looked truly impressive in a kind of Android-brothel-meets-LEXX-shiny-stainless-steel-machine-porn-fantasy-sense but I just couldn't justify spending £1500 on something that would spend 99% of its life unseen and shut away in the cellar].

            1. Anomalous Cowturd
              Happy

              @ Tanuki... Re: shiny-stainless-steel-machine-porn-fantasy

              May I refer the honourable commentard to a response given earlier?

              http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/containing/2289372

              :o)

              I'm still singing it...

              Syyyyyy Borg. Gimme that, gimme that. Syyyyyyyy Borg........

            2. werdsmith Silver badge

              Re: Still missing critical feature

              Unfortunately these high powered Sebos and Mieles ran around 2200W motors and are now only going to be available second hand.

              1. Alan Brown Silver badge
                Devil

                Re: Still missing critical feature

                "Unfortunately these high powered Sebos and Mieles ran around 2200W motors and are now only going to be available second hand."

                Or be available as commercial rather than domestic cleaners....

    3. Captain DaFt

      Re: Still missing critical feature

      Seriously, can't they put a pop up flap on top, and design the charging station to insert a duct to.. well, hoover out the robo-hoover while it's charging?

  17. Truth4u

    Could it work in a real home though?

    We don't all have spacious showroom fresh homes. The homes they use to promote vacuum cleaners are already clean, and so spacious and empty, obviously no one lives there anyway.

    How would this cope with silly things like, I dunno, socks on the ground, plugs on the ground, coat hangers, cables, litter, empty beer bottles, towels etc?

    I don't know about you but before I vacuum, it is not optional to pick up the crap on the floor first.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Could it work in a real home though?

      You just need a bigger vacuum Sir; A mere 10" diameter hose will take the beer bottles, towels and probably the cat too.

    2. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Could it work in a real home though?

      ... vials of ricin under the sofa...

      1. Truth4u

        Re: Could it work in a real home though?

        These machines also love a roll of anything:

        . bog paper

        . string

        . ribbon

        Almost anything that has a loose end is gunna be wrapped around the brush spindle.

        It's these little things that completely ruin the idea of a vacuuming robot. Its very simplistic to just assume everything on the floor of an average home is dust. People can sometimes have belongings in their house.

        Without any attachments for manual use, you would have to own a robot vacuum, and a real vacuum cleaner as well, or go back to the dust pan and brush maybe?

      2. Don Dumb
        Coffee/keyboard

        Re: Could it work in a real home though?

        @TRT - ... vials of ricin under the sofa...

        +1 for the Breaking Bad ref

  18. TeamEvil

    I have an "XR advanced vacuum cleaning robot" £160 from Amazon. Fair play to it, the bloody thing is fantastic. Wakes up at 6am every day, trundles around a carpeted room for 2 hours and genuinely keeps the carpets clean. The dust bucket needs emptying every other day and is normally full of Mutt hair and dust.

    It may not be the most intelligent robot, but for the price I have no complaints at all.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      WTF?

      "Wakes up at 6am every day, trundles around a carpeted room for 2 hours"

      How long? Really? So that would be six or eight hours for a normal house? Would it need to go off and re-charge for half a day between doing each room?

    2. werdsmith Silver badge

      Aldi did those XR Robotic cleaners recently on Thursday deals for £70.

    3. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Wakes up at 6am every day, trundles around a carpeted room for 2 hours and genuinely keeps the carpets clean.

      In two hours or thereabouts I can vacuum every room in my house (~2300 ft2, 215 m2), and get a bit of exercise in the process. I honestly don't see the benefit of one of these robot-vacuum things.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Roomba replacement?

    It looks good. It has some features that seem better than my Roomba - the tank tracks in particular, since my Roomba sometimes fails to make it up the 1cm step into the kitchen.

    Still, it will be hard to beat my Roomba. It's so dumb that it can handle everything - it will keep bumbling around until the downstairs is done, so it doesn't matter if I've moved a chair or if there's a shoe that it keeps bumping around.

    The Roomba's cleaning ability is pretty poor in comparison to my proper vacuum cleaner, but then it does it 3 times a week vs once in a blue moon with my proper one, so it adds up to being better.

  20. MyffyW Silver badge

    Henry

    Best workout you can get shoving that little bugger round the place. And the bags are enormous.

    Robots? Cyclones? Sounds like a B movie plot.

  21. Frankee Llonnygog

    Why not make the house smart?

    Then the vacuum cleaner can just be a dumb, remote-controlled device?

  22. A Known Coward

    Can it move furniture?

    Well? Can it move the chair and bin out from under the desk to vacuum there? Can it pick up the laundry basket or the rugs so as not to choke to death on the frilly edge? Can it climb stairs or clean beneath the cushions on the sofa? Well of course it can't, so you'll need to go around after it with a second vacuum cleaner to do all the bits that it missed.

    I guess if you've got lots of money and little time for chores then it's a great idea. But if you've got the money why wouldn't you pay someone to come in and clean instead? It creates a job in this country instead of China and a human being has none of these limitations, plus they can do whole load of other jobs too.

    1. Darryl

      Re: Can it move furniture?

      You've got a point there, and with Dyson's pricing scheme, this thing will probably cost the equivalent of 10 or 12 years of an immigrant's wages.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And in the real world?

    You know, the one where gaps between chairs and walls are 100mm or less, where power cables snake over the floor, where the TV stand is only 50mm off the floor, ... These things may be great if your home is in the US Midwest with minimalist rooms the size of a tennis court, but here in Blighty houses are small, cramped and inevitably messy. What's needed is a more like a fleet of hyperactive cleaners each the size of a mouse, that return for an automatic dump and recharge every 15 minutes..

    1. macjules

      Re: And in the real world?

      Already have a cleaner like that. MK1 Philippino.

  24. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Terminator

    Internet enabled?

    So it can snitch on you if it thinks you're a slut*

    * in the 1950s, UKIP-approved parlance.

  25. Coofer Cat

    10 years later...

    I remember Dyson saying the were coming out with a robotic vacuum cleaner over 10 years ago. It was going to be called the DC06 (I even found a link from 2004 here: http://www.gizmag.com/go/1282/). Thankfully, they've pulled it down from the £1000 proposed price tag. I expect this'll be rather good (although probably noisy).

  26. TheOldFellow

    No Legs, No Stairs, No use.

    Title says it all really. My house is multi level, lots of two steps between them. I also have furniture.

    1. Number6

      Re: No Legs, No Stairs, No use.

      You just buy one for each level. This is where cheaper ones are more attractive.

  27. Elmer Phud

    How many . . .

    . . . cats can the thing seat?

    I forsee YouTube being inundated with 'cute kitties ride on cleaner' vids.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: How many . . .

      "I forsee YouTube being inundated with 'cute kitties ride on cleaner' vids."

      It probably won't go far with a furry bum covering the camera.

  28. MassiveBob

    the machine also comes with iOS and Android apps

    Does this mean that your floor plan will get leaked too, as well as your naughty pics??

    1. foo_bar_baz

      Re: the machine also comes with iOS and Android apps

      It's inevitable.

      Is there an Internet Rule for everything getting hacked?

  29. earl grey
    Facepalm

    "tracks....to let it get over small obstacles."

    MEEOWTH!

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm sorry

    but if the 360 camera is not IP enabled and we can't have a "Some perv hacked my hoover" Daily Fail story then I'm not interested.

    "I could not work out why it was always cleaning the bathroom when I was in the shower or doing my spray tan" 23 year old Alesha (picture below) from Rayleigh explained. “I would not have minded but it was really wearing my rug out”.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: I'm sorry

      “I would not have minded but it was really wearing my rug out”.

      Class! I thought it was only blokes who did things with vacuum cleaners. Or so my mate in A&E tells me.

    2. Marcus Aurelius

      “I would not have minded but it was really wearing my rug out”

      ...resulted in a coffee explosion and a call to IT for a new keyboard.

      Were you a News of the World journalist back in the day? ;-)

  31. Truth4u

    I'm in favour of a really powerful air conditioning system that basically gets a hurricane going through the house and filters the dust out of the air. Basically like an air shower in a chip fabrication lab, but for your house.

    1. DropBear
      Joke

      Yeah, well they tried that...

      ...and this is what remains.

  32. Christian Berger

    To contrast that...

    The Cray 1 only had a single patent.

    1. Truth4u

      Re: To contrast that...

      I blame business dicks like the ones on Dragons Den UK.

      Guy walks in with the best idea ever, they all say they love it and they all want one blah blah blah, then they get to the bit where they ask if he patented it and when he says no they basically tell him to fuck off and the rest of the show is just them giving him a drubbing for not having patents and saying what a shit he is to even think of wasting their time.

      They basically don't give a rats ass about business, they're just looking for someone who already has a license to print money, so they can screw him out of half his company.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    After sales support

    I will say this for Dyson - Their after sales support is the best I have ever dealt with and their refurbished equipment which you can buy through their site far cheaper than retail is reported to be more reliable than shop bought - one of my friends is an engineer with them and whilst the main production is fairly automated / stock parts, etc, refurbs are dealt with by a single, highly qualified engineer who checks the entire system over, replaces the faulty parts and any parts with reasonable wear.

    I got a Dyson Animal something or other for £90, saved a small fortune and it's been great.

    So, yeah, this might be a bit of marketing hype, but at least you know if you buy it you wont go wrong with the company and the support they offer.

  34. Alan Brown Silver badge

    Dyson deleted my comments

    1: 12cm is too tall

    2: Tiny bin, Karcher solved that with the RC3000

    3: Anyone not using air recirculation technology on a low power cleaner is silly. It can save 90% on power consumption.

    To see why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d7LCRvNOOg

    website at http://www.g0cwt.co.uk/arc/new_page_3.htm

    Nice side benefit: it means fine dust isn't sprayed into the air.

    1. foo_bar_baz

      Re: Dyson deleted my comments

      The tech looks promising. The 1990s called and want their website back, though. That hurt my eyes.

    2. Julian Taylor
      Facepalm

      Re: Dyson deleted my comments

      Christ, do they still allow Geocities templates to be to used?

    3. Truth4u

      Re: Dyson deleted my comments

      It's a cool idea but they're not really selling it with that long boring video of the world's ugliest cleaner being operated slowly (for dramatic effect or because its shit at picking up dust?).

  35. smartypants

    I like Dyson. Am I mad?

    I know there's a lot of leg-pulling on here, but I feel a bit uncomfortable when I see people taking the pee out of ground-breaking designs that didn't succeed in the end (in this case the Dyson washing machine). It was hugely innovative, and when you innovate, there's a risk you'll fail.

    I like Dyson's approach to taking ordinary items and trying to make them better. I like their fearless optimism on display as they wade into staid, established markets and disrupt them with genuine innovation. We could do with a few more Dysons knocking around Blighty.

    Actually, they probably are out there now... but haven't struck gold yet. Don't listen to the sniggerers! Carry on! Do something, and let's hope it's a spectacular success!

    In short, to do is to be!

    P.S. In my fervour I forgot to say that I won't buy a robotic cleaner. Maybe I like the misery...especially the stairs for some reason. (I get to use the special attachments)

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The 360 Eye seems to be...

    Pinging high on my "Google key search words" trigger. The methodology and repetition of the phrase in this article looks like search engine bait and advertising lingo to me. Sad, as it's quite an interesting little gadget and appliance under it all.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The 360 Eye seems to be...

      Don't worry the reason they keep repeating 360 Eye is because that's it's name.

  37. Tom 64

    Wonder why Japan first

    They are a British company after all?

    Perhaps they are being made there since they couldn't get quality manufacturing at home.

    I do hope they have sorted out their reliability issues though, the Japanese consumer is a fussy one.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: Wonder why Japan first

      Simple. Japanese love gadgets.

      1. Wilseus

        Re: Wonder why Japan first

        And believe it or not, they'll pay through the nose for anything with a Union Jack on it.

  38. Stacy

    Not of fan of Dyson anyway, but even so I don't see this one being very good

    Expensive and they really don't work on wooden floors at all (in my limited experience watching my in laws Dyson push the crums around the room in front of the brush instead of hovering it up) and never having a good explaination as to why they are better than the 4 times cheaper vacuums that work perfectly on the same surface from the sales people desperate to sell you something for hundreds of euros instead of 80.

    But this just puzzels me. The point of a robot vacuum is that you can use it when it's not in your way, like 3am for our Roomba, if this dyson sees it's way around the room instead of using the infra red / mapping technique that the roomba (watching it slow down for obsticles it knows about, and circling table legs it knows about is quite cool) has how does it cope with a pitch black room?

    Also, the roomba goes underneath our sofas, tables and our sons play pen and cleans under small legs with the side brush - something that I can't see on dyson so the edges of the room will be missed.

    And is about 1/3 of the price.

  39. GrizzlyCoder

    Simplest answer: do not harbour animals in your dwelling then there won't be hairs all over the floor. THEN incorporate the 'manual chore' (hah! tell that to (for example, not the only one) native Africans beating clothes on rocks to clean them and see them laugh at your 'chores') of pushing a machine around the floor into your daily Wii-moderated exercise regime. FFS people get real -- if bits on the floor bother you that much that you need a robot to pick them up every day then stop being so sloppy in your daily life or just get used to it and sort it yourself once a week. Jeez.

  40. Stryker007

    WTF?? why is it released first in Japan? Its a UK company riiiiiight?

  41. red death

    As long as my cat can ride it like Banecat I'm in...

  42. Julian Taylor
    WTF?

    The Microsoft Vacuum ...

    They used to say that the only product Microsoft made that didn't suck was a vacuum cleaner. Let us hope that Dyson is not using Windows Mobile 8.1 to power his robot...

  43. This Side Up
    Headmaster

    A Dyson doesn't Hoover...

    It Dysons!

  44. damian Kelly

    Another poorly conceived overpriced under performing solution looking fro a problem from supposed engineer and attention seeking Dyson? Surely Not!

  45. Zot

    I would like to know a couple of things...

    A) Does it collect the dimensions of people's homes and sell it off to the highest bidding data farmer?

    B) The advert implies that it's all effortless and quiet, and we all know that Dyson's scream like mini jet engines. So how loud is it and does it scare animals silly?

  46. Infernoz Bronze badge
    Terminator

    James Dyson is right, other robot vacuums are tiresome jokes.

    I had a Roomba, I wore quickly, clogged easily, and eventually broke and they got more expensive, so it wasn't replaced.

    So for the Dyson 360 Eye:

    * It really is damned tall so will not go under furniture which other robot vacuums can.

    * What is the cleaning time between recharges?

    * Will it be affordable?

    * It better be affordable, because the price of the latest battery hand vacuums and their short cleaning time seriously takes the piss, as do the O fans!

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