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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

#41

Post by tonylemesmer »

riffraff wrote: post #20

there's one thing I don't understand about this robot, as well as the roomba: how does it clean corners?

It doesn't.

The idea of the cleaner is that it reduces the overall level of dirt in your house. Its a "maintenance" cleaner as it can just continuously clean. Therefore the buildup of dirt in the corners will be less as there is less dirt around generally. However you will still need a secondary vacuum to do the corners, cobwebs, stairs etc.

Its aimed at people with plenty of cash, who might not blink at having one per floor of their house.

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

#42

Post by ZenoArrow »

buro9 wrote: post #33

Is the solution to a small robot vacuum really to increase the power of the motor above the competition? On hard wood flooring I've never found rotary brushes to be better than side sweeps (what most of the competition uses). And on carpet where rotary brushes do perform better, I can't help but think that instead of upping the suction power you could approach the problem from a different perspective... such as using…

"Their hand dryers do a worse job than the classic World Dryer and look uglier over time and seem to be less performant over time (smaller clogged filters perhaps!?)."

Really? That's the exact opposite experience than I've had, the Airblade dries my hands faster and more thoroughly than any traditional hand dryer.

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

#43

Post by philh »

ekianjo wrote: post #32
hmottestad wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you look at the Neato ones. Their new botvac can vacuum very close to a corner since the brush and vacuum head is placed towards the front and left. http://img1.lesnumeriques.com/produits/601/20289/Neato_Botva...

That's slightly better but the size of these robots is what kills their use. So many times there's not even half the size of these robots between a table and a wall in Japan, they just won't fit there. Dyson should really do more market research before they think they can disrupt the market with basically the same form factor as the other brands. I don't have hard data but my guess is that most people are far from be…

I'm fairly confident that a company like Dyson knows to do market research on these things, and has more hard data than you do.

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

#44

Post by jonnydark »

Magicstatic wrote: post #25

I'm still impressed by the fact that Dyson made a fan with no...fans.

It's a bladeless fan, not a fanless fan. It works using an impeller in the base and it feeds the air through a thin gap in an annulus shaped aerofoil. Strictly speaking you could argue that impellers have blades and all they've done is conceal them inside the base rather than remove them entirely. A truly bladeless fan would use something like an electrostatic fluid accelerator to accelerate particles with an electric field - but that's probably a little too sci-fi for a consumer electronics company!

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

#45

Post by Stulander »

facepalm wrote: post #27
Magicstatic wrote: post #25

I'm still impressed by the fact that Dyson made a fan with no...fans.

They didn't. The fan is integrated in the base. Actually the fan example is exactly what makes me look at any Dyson announcements with a lot of skepticism.

That and "digital motors".

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

#46

Post by ekianjo »

philh wrote: post #43
ekianjo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's slightly better but the size of these robots is what kills their use. So many times there's not even half the size of these robots between a table and a wall in Japan, they just won't fit there. Dyson should really do more market research before they think they can disrupt the market with basically the same form factor as the other brands. I don't have hard data but my guess is that most people are far from be…

I'm fairly confident that a company like Dyson knows to do market research on these things, and has more hard data than you do.

> and has more hard data than you do.

They probably have more than I do because I have none, but I've seen very big companies being completely clueless at market research as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if this were the case as well. Seeing Dyson himself on Japanese TV yesterday saying "Hey, we come first to Japan because Japanese consumers love robots" sounded like he has no idea what he is talking about, seriously. But that wouldn't be the first for a CEO.

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

#47

Post by christop »

It does look very impressive and I'm sure it picks up more dust and dirt than the Roomba, but my Roomba neatly fits under every piece of furniture I have.

The extra height of the Dyson means it wont make it under our sofa, the TV stand, into the gap between the kitchen floor and the cupboards (well, perhaps Roomba doesn't fit there either, but the side brush does), under the chest of drawers in the bedroom etc etc..

I'll have to wait for the next iteration (and hope I'm rich by then).

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

#48

Post by imdsm »

rbobby wrote: post #37
tonylemesmer wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ex-dyson robotic engineer here. Correct - low weight means you have less force to apply to the wheels and hence achieve grip. The design of the aperture where the air goes into the vaccum (the soleplate) has to be optimised between flicking the carpet fibres in the right fashion to achieve good dirt pickup and not impeding sliding across the carpet too much. The design of the tyres is critical. If there is any slip i…

Add suction to the treads? A few air holes routed to the side of the tread where there's a vacuum pickup? I bet it would be tricky to get a seal that has low enough friction to allow the tread to slide past but still a good enough seal to get good suction from the bottom of the tread. Oh and it's got to last and last. Yikes... back to coding I go...

I have great ideas, which are actually terrible ideas, that's why I stick to coding.

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

#49

Post by Throwaway823 »

buro9 wrote: post #33

Is the solution to a small robot vacuum really to increase the power of the motor above the competition? On hard wood flooring I've never found rotary brushes to be better than side sweeps (what most of the competition uses). And on carpet where rotary brushes do perform better, I can't help but think that instead of upping the suction power you could approach the problem from a different perspective... such as using…

Dyson definitely does a great job at marketing, and giving their products a premium price and expectations.

I was at the store one day, and saw vacuum cleaners. Now, I have no interest in a vacuum at the moment, but they had a Dyson Ball, and I've seen countless videos of it, and had to take a look to see this high-end vacuum. I was disappointed from the first second, it just looked like a bunch of cheap plastic parts, and similar to something I'd find from a yard sale ten years ago. Photo below of my expectation from all the marketing, and a photo someone took of the actual vacuum.

http://i.imgur.com/bs1ygfM.jpg

I played around with it for a bit, and it just felt cheap, in every way possible. I was expecting the best vacuum in the world, and I was holding something that was entirely different. Now, I don't own one, it might work great for vacuuming, but it had no sense of luxury in person.

Another example, is the handheld vacuum, I'd see commercials on television, and then I saw one in the wild at a friends house. Comparison below is using slightly different models, but just look at the materials. In the promo image, it looks like glass and metal, and then in reality, it's some cheap stamped plastic that you'd expect from a bottom of the barrel vacuum.

http://i.imgur.com/RZ8sFxq.jpg

As for the hand dryers, I find they work well and fast. It's a creative idea, and I think they're a success. I imagine they're more difficult to clean though, and get dirty with all the water dripping on them.

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

#50

Post by revjx »

jonnydark wrote: post #44
Magicstatic wrote: post #25

I'm still impressed by the fact that Dyson made a fan with no...fans.

It's a bladeless fan, not a fanless fan. It works using an impeller in the base and it feeds the air through a thin gap in an annulus shaped aerofoil. Strictly speaking you could argue that impellers have blades and all they've done is conceal them inside the base rather than remove them entirely. A truly bladeless fan would use something like an electrostatic fluid accelerator to accelerate particles with an electri…

Jonny, you're RUINING THE MAGIC

Good to see other Dyson people on here.

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