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Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

engadget.com

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Re: Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

#11

Post by kordless »

darkmighty wrote: post #8
Schwolop wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly enough, for robotic vacuums _low_ weight is also a problem: the better your suction, the worse your ability to drive! The tank-tread wheels on Dyson's model are meant to help mitigate against this, but I gather from (now ex-) insiders that this is still a buggy sticking point (ha!) that needs to be solved before release.

I'm not sure the ability to drive is that much worse -- for constant curvature surfaces it should just increase traction. I guess the suction could be regulated if a certain varying inclide causes trouble.

> varying inclide

them bumps

Re: Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

#12

Post by arjie »

sparkman55 wrote: post #9
lingben wrote: post #5

if you're interested in the product you'll get about 1000 times more information via their website than this article https://www.dyson360eye.com/

Yikes, what did they do to the page's "scroll" function? Do people actually find that usable? It definitely made me think the page was broken at first... The slideshow seems like a 'play' (right-arrow) much more than a 'scroll' (down-arrow). Is this a metaphor for Dyson vacuums in general? (Technically-clever, shiny, but not necessarily the most effective)

It worked very well on my laptop. Moving between slides felt very natural. Going back, I see that scrolling 'back' (up) didn't work as well. Interesting. I would never have noticed if your comment didn't make me check.

Why did you think it was broken? It said 'scroll to begin' on my screen so I suppose I knew I was expecting something when I scrolled.

Re: Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

#13

Post by sparkman55 »

arjie wrote: post #12
sparkman55 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yikes, what did they do to the page's "scroll" function? Do people actually find that usable? It definitely made me think the page was broken at first... The slideshow seems like a 'play' (right-arrow) much more than a 'scroll' (down-arrow). Is this a metaphor for Dyson vacuums in general? (Technically-clever, shiny, but not necessarily the most effective)

It worked very well on my laptop. Moving between slides felt very natural. Going back, I see that scrolling 'back' (up) didn't work as well. Interesting. I would never have noticed if your comment didn't make me check. Why did you think it was broken? It said 'scroll to begin' on my screen so I suppose I knew I was expecting something when I scrolled.

When I flick my fingers up, I expect a smooth vertical movement of the view pane, exposing new content at the bottom. I can scroll fast and far if I want to scan for interesting content, and scroll backwards if I might have missed something. Every other web page does this, except this one. It subverts the conventional affordance of the scroll wheel / two-finger scroll.

The recent NYTimes article about ISIS in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers ( http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/03/world/middleea... ) is a much better treatment of the scroll.

If I'm going to be subjected to lengthy animations between slides, I generally expect arrows left-and-right to click on.

The whole 'scroll to begin' language on an otherwise beautiful page is a usability smell. See http://www.harmoni.ca/blog/affordances

Re: Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

#14

Post by ekianjo »

I find these round robots completely useless in Japan, because in most apartments, they are unable to move around because there's just too much stuff at ground level. There's a reason why normal vacuum cleaner ends are not shaped like landmine detectors, and unless you seriously address that point in your design, these robots will remain completely unadapted to most households.

Re: Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

#15

Post by PinguTS »

sparkman55 wrote: post #9
lingben wrote: post #5

if you're interested in the product you'll get about 1000 times more information via their website than this article https://www.dyson360eye.com/

Yikes, what did they do to the page's "scroll" function? Do people actually find that usable? It definitely made me think the page was broken at first... The slideshow seems like a 'play' (right-arrow) much more than a 'scroll' (down-arrow). Is this a metaphor for Dyson vacuums in general? (Technically-clever, shiny, but not necessarily the most effective)

It is basically, what I first saw at Apple's site for the new Mac Pro. Lately, Volvo has it with its new XC90. It seems like a new trend. Basically copying all those one page sites, which started with parallax scrolling.

With clicking it works fine. But some don't really like scrolling via touch.

Re: Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

#16

Post by Semaphor »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #7
lingben wrote: post #5

if you're interested in the product you'll get about 1000 times more information via their website than this article https://www.dyson360eye.com/

Everything except pricing information and independent verification of their superiority claims. Dyson's have traditionally come with a premium for their "technology". I'll be patiently waiting for the reviews to trickle in.

I have a cheap Roomba iRobot and I'm perfectly happy with it. I have hardwood floors so even if the Dyson has more power, I do not see a compelling reason to upgrade.

Re: Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

#17

Post by vixin »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #7
lingben wrote: post #5

if you're interested in the product you'll get about 1000 times more information via their website than this article https://www.dyson360eye.com/

Everything except pricing information and independent verification of their superiority claims. Dyson's have traditionally come with a premium for their "technology". I'll be patiently waiting for the reviews to trickle in.

Why "technology" in inverted commas? That's an unwarranted sneer.

Re: Why Dyson's robot vacuum took 16 years, and why it's headed to Japan first

#18

Post by yitchelle »

The title is almost click baiting. I was hoping to read an in-depth article for the 16years of effort in design the vacuum. Information on how the engineers solve massive problems that would have take many years to do.

From the general sense of the article, 16 years was the elapse time from their first version to their release version.

However, probably the right level of detail from engadget...

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