Robots may not yet rule the world (thankfully!), but they do rock—particularly when it comes to the ever-more amazing things they can do. With this week marking the annual product innovation convention known as CES 2021, what cool new robots are making their way to the stage and potentially to our homes? Today I consider some of the cool new robotic announcements from this year’s CES. It’s mostly robotic vacuums and cleaning assistants from the realm of Smart Home tech, so if you like the idea of a helpful robot to clean up all your messes, just keep on reading!
Robot Vacuums & cleaning assistants
The entire premise of robots is the idea of machines that help and serve humans. Robotic vacuums are the absolute epitome of this as they do the dirty work that many of us don’t exactly relish.
One example of just such a helper is the eufy RoboVac L80 Laser Navigation Robotic Vacuum Cleaner—a CES Innovation Awards Honouree at this year’s convention. This amazing new robot vacuum features a true first in the field—Twin Turbine Technology. With its 2 advanced turbines, this vacuum creates a never-before-seen level of suction. With 2000Pa of power, its turbines combine to generate an 80% air-flow increase.
The eufy also offers an iPath™ Laser Navigation system and advanced AI, as well as Map™ Technology 2.0 which provides multi-floor mapping (in real time) and selective room cleaning, as well as a variety of other great features. Even those fancy droids in Star Wars never did anything like that!
Also of interest at this year’s CES is the iRobot Roomba i3+, which (amazingly!) has the ability to empty itself. It does so via the base (charging) station and a feature called the Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal.
Other features of this vacuum include a “High-Performance Filter” that catches 99% of microscopic troublemakers like mites, mold, and pollen. Allergens don’t stand a chance around this mighty vacuum! It even has a patented feature called Dirt Detect Technology whereby it somehow knows exactly where dust likes to hide and goes into those tough places to find it. It’s a pretty amazing machine!
Another company that really showed up big at this year’s CES (particularly within the robotic realm) is Samsung. Among their offerings are the JetBot 90 AI+ (a robot vacuum with Object Recognition Technology) and the Samsung Bot™ Care (with Artificial Intelligence and the ability to recognize your behaviour and respond appropriately).
The first model (JetBot 90 AI+) also has 3-D sensors and on-board cameras to help it avoid objects and obstacles while always finding the dirt. This one should actually come out this year in the US (and hopefully Canada). The second model (the Samsung Bot™ Care, which is still being perfected) does more than just the cleaning—it’s a full-blown robotic assistant… and companion! How cool is that?
Although these bots clearly have capabilities that were once restricted to the realms of science fiction, Samsung has additional models under development that are even more advanced. For instance, the Samsung Bot™ Handy (if and when it becomes available) will be able to do housework that involves complex capabilities such as recognizing objects and picking them up and moving them around. In other words, maybe it will be able to help you by putting away the clean dishes. What will they think of next?!
Finally, I’ll just briefly mention the UV-C series of robots from UBTech, which are designed to fight diseases and help us all stay healthy, which they do by using a flood of UV-C light to disinfect surfaces at a “hospital-grade” level. What does this mean? Well, for one thing, viruses like the one we’re currently being plagued by better get out of town in a hurry, otherwise it’ll be lights out for them! Truly, I can hardly believe this one myself!
As you can see, the future is now—or at least very soon, when it comes to the robotic revelations at this year’s CES. Hopefully all of these models will make it into production (and thus, our homes) in the not-too-distant future. However, if you can’t wait for one of these Robot Vacuums / housework helpers to fully arrive on the scene and help you and your family out, Best Buy has a variety of excellent models already in stock. Recruit your robotic cleaning assistant today!
