Robots are taking over… The cleaning

Could it be that The Jetsons is becoming a reality? Months after we checked out the Samsung Navibot S, LG has a robot vacuum that could change your opinion on the potential for these automated home helpers.

About ten years ago I purchased a Robo Maxx robot vacuum cleaner through Danoz Direct. If my memory serves me well, it cost around $99. Essentially it would drive forward until it hit something, turn and drive forward again. It would then hit something else, turn and drive forward again. Repeat until the battery runs flat.

This was fun, but really didn’t achieve much in terms of consistent cleaning around the house.

Fast forward to 2012 and my Robo Maxx sits collecting dust in my storage unit (I struggle to let go of cool old tech), and in my living room sits an LG Roboking.

Priced at an expensive $849 you’ll struggle to see the value when first considering this lazy man’s handy helper.

What’s important with the Roboking is to consider it’s ongoing value to your home.

If you’re anything like me you’ll have a constant battle with the cleaning – just keeping the place tidy is a battle.

Over the recent weeks in our home we’ve made a routine decision each night to turn on the Roboking and let it do it’s thing.

We get the best results when we move our dining chairs to the side of the room and create as much open space as we can.  Of course on other nights the Roboking finds itself spending more time bumping into items in the house than it does actually cleaning.  However it just seems to work.

Small brushes flicking out the side and a large brush on the under-side where the suction occurs direct large amounts of dust and dirt into the vacuum.

With two cleaning modes – “Zig Zag” and “Spacial Expansion Mode” this circular little device with cameras and sensors all around seems to find its way around any shaped room with ease picking up most of the mess you’d normally need to get the broom out to clear up on hard surfaces or run the vacuum over quickly on the carpet.

By no means is it doing a complete clean.  You’re going to need to get the big vacuum out once in a while to get right into corners and you’re still going to need to grab those big bits of food or scraps that the kids might leave around the house.

Importantly this one passed the “wife test” in my home. My wife finds it hard to accept new technology most of the time, but after a few days it seems the Roboking was getting a start each and every night to ensure the floors had some level of respectfulness to them each morning.

It’s certainly a pricey item, and a “want to have” not a “need to have”, but with that said, if you’ve got the money I can’t see anything wrong with getting a little extra help around the house each day. It’s also a bit cheaper than Samsung’s Navibot S was at launch.

Now, where’s that robot to put my clothes out each day and brush my teeth for me?