plaroche wrote:I guess Karcher is the only company making proper quality robots these days.
I personally doubt they will for much longer; Distribution & sales have been withdrawn from everywhere on the planet to now just Germany. Prices are now half of what they used to be (I guess to remain competitive with newer entrants) and I'd guess that's only possible because, as the design is now 10 years old, the hefty R&D costs would have long since been recouped. I doubt Karcher plan any successor given the high development costs, the limited market, and the fact that the Chinese are quite happy to knock out a copy of anybody's robot with your name on it for about $50 a piece wholesale (if you buy by the container load). Where is the margin? I suspect that as soon as demand dries up, Karcher will quietly stop re-making the odd batch of RC3000's here and there, as Electrolux did with their Trilobite some time ago.
Besides, Korean manufacturers such as Samsung and LG have far better expertise and complimentary design and manufacturing for their other product lines - screens, cameras, touch sensors etc etc - where costs adapting that exisiting technology to another product is much easier and cheaper. Okay, their robotics haven't yet fully matured, but if they put their minds to it properly...
I'll bet there's at least one Neato that's been ripped to pieces and the technology being copied in both China and Korea as I type...