Robot Reviews

If Popular Mechanics's list of "22 Top Products" and CES' own "Last Gadget Standing" awards are any indication, robotic vacuum cleaners like the Neato XV-11 and the Evolution Mint are going to make it big in 2010.

At CES 2002, the Last Gadget Standing winner was iRobot's Roomba, and we all know what happened to THAT robotic vacuum cleaner. Last we heard, iRobot already sold over 5 million home robots. 

Aside from both being floor cleaning robots, the XV-11 and the Mint have one thing in common: their rectangular-shaped fronts, which make it easier for them to get rid of hard-to-reach dirt hidden in floor corners.  This is a departure from the "traditional" round-shaped casings that most robotic floor cleaning robots have. iRobot's Roomba, Scooba, and Dirt Dog all have round shapes; so do LG's Roboking and ASUS' ECleaner. 

Neato Robotics and Evolution Robotics are employing different navigation solutions though. While the XV-11 uses an RPS Laser Mapping System that's mounted on the robot itself, the Mint makes use of a separate GPS-like navigation device called a NorthStar beacon. Both systems, however, are touted to be better than the Roomba's random-like-bump-and-learn algorithm.

For the meantime, The XV-11 and Mint won't be competing head-on. XV-11 is a pure robotic vacuum cleaner. Hence, it will be challenging the Roomba's current market dominance. Mint, on the other hand, is taking a relatively safer route. Being a robotic floor mop, it is being pitted against iRobot's less-known machine: the Scooba. 

It should be interesting to see how the current floor leader, iRobot, is going to respond to the new entrants, whose navigation systems and front designs appear to be more efficient than their own. How ever it will be, one thing's for sure: you're going to be reading more about robotic floor cleaners throughout 2010.