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TECH FEATURE

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’23 FATHER’S DAY

CLEAN MACHINES continued

TOP TIPS

How’s the serenity? Another joy of robotic vacuums is that they’re generally not as loud as your typical home vacuum cleaners. Ever tried watching telly while somebody’s vacuuming? You either crank up the volume to drown out the noise, or just give up. Robotic vacuums are getting quieter all the time, with many now able to happily trundle under your feet while you’re watching TV, without any need to reach for the remote. Or, of course, you could just leave the vac to it and go about your day. Freedom! Ultimately, robotic vacuums accomplish something that many of us have always hoped technology would give us – a way of bypassing one of the more menial chores in life, leaving us more time to do other stuff. Even if it is just watching TV!

HOW CLEAN IS CLEAN? You may be sceptical as to how well a robotic vacuum can do the job that you might usually do with your trusty upright or barrel vac. When we first got one, we certainly were. So, before we let our new helper loose upon its maiden journey, we did a thorough manual vac cleaning of our whole home with our old school barrel unit. We then let our shiny new robotic vacuum loose to do its stuff, thinking that it wouldn’t come up with much leftover dirt. Boy, were we wrong! It filled its dust catcher… and left us very pleasantly surprised (and a little embarrassed at our lack of faith)!

Set up a regular automated cleaning schedule, so you don’t even need to think about starting the vac. Robotic vacs are exceptionally good at deploying sensor technology to avoid obstacles like stool legs and kid’s shoes. But if you want a comprehensive cleaning compatriot, opt for higher end models that will allow you to create floorplans and build barriers to avoid obstacles that you know will cause snagging issues. As you would with a conventional vacuum cleaner, doing a sweep of the house to pick up any loose items on the floor can ensure a trouble-free clean. Robotic vacs do love munching on errant charging cables. Some models of robotic vac will self-empty into a base when full. This is a really handy feature if you’re going out for the day and want your vac to clean your whole place in your absence. Stay on top of maintenance. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to clean the brushes regularly – too much hair caught up on the rollers could lead to your unit malfunctioning. Once a robotic vac runs low on power, it will automatically return to its docking station. The charging dock should always be placed within easy access for the vac. Some robotic vacs come with a built-in webcam, so you can log in from a smartphone and use the vac as a security camera.

DYK? The first commercial robotic vacuum was the Electrolux Trilobite, which launched in 1996.

EVERYTHING’S ROSIE!

The Jetson household gave us a glimpse of what we might expect in our future. While today’s robotic vacuums may not have all of Rosie’s functionality, at least they don’t give us any cheek.

64 AUGUST 2023

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