Technology is gradually progressing to a world where you mightn’t have to do the housework anymore, but it’s not quite like The Jetsons. There are no flying cars and no robot maid to do your bidding, but there are drones that can deliver things and robots that can clean the house.
That last one is proving more and more popular as of late, and the tech in those areas is moving forwards in leaps and bounds. A few years ago, a robotic vacuum might just hurtle itself off a patio when it didn’t know what to do with the edge, while today’s can handle steps.
Previous electronics shows have offered a glimpse for what the future of robotic cleaners is like in a home with two or more floors, and while that technology still feels like it’s a long while off, robotics makers are charging ahead. Some might say rolling on, given that’s exactly what a robot vacuum cleaner does.
The latest from relative recent arrival Mova could well be a sign of that.
When the company launched its robo-vacs last year, we were surprised: the cleaner we checked out was a little different from everything else, and delivered a great result.
This year’s looks to impress further, potentially cementing the brand as a challenger that has learned a thing or two.
The Mova V70 Ultra Complete is a bit of a mouthful in name, but appears to offer a lot, covering 42,000 Pascal, making it super strong, and offering a mop extension arm that can cover 17 centimetres.
For the folks playing along at home, that means it should be able to pry dirt and particles from the ground, sucking them up into a small chamber before depositing them at the charging base, while the washing system means an arm that can get into more corners and parts of the home even if the circular robotic vacuum has trouble getting there itself.
Moving around the home is step system able to push the V70 up onto a step as high as 9 centimetres, though it may not cover a flight of steps per se. The idea is if you have a step that leads into another room, the vacuum won’t just stop, but will instead climb and keep on working.
A combination of sensors and AI will help it handle everything else, working to identify over 300 obstacles and even being able to retract its navigation sensor after it’s complete.
Dealing with pets is also part of the design, as the sensors are able to work out whether pets are in the home and adjust cleaning paths to prevent the robot from affecting pets, and potentially cleaning up any pet waste, or at the very least not dragging it around the home.
While all of this is useful, one of the more interesting aspects that sets it apart from other robo-vacs is something we see in stick vacs: bagless operation.
The docking station where the Mova V70 Ultra Complete will go for recharging and emptying will use a bag-less design and washable dust tank. Officially, the V70’s “EcoCyclone” dust station supports up to 100 days worth of dust and debris, though that will depend on how messy your home is and how often you vacuum.
However, it does mean that you can simply empty it without needing to use consumables, something almost every other robotic vacuum requires.
The catch could be the price, with the “complete” edition of the Mova V70 Ultra set to cost $3299, making it one of the more expensive robotic vacuum cleaners around.
Australians can find it at select stockists now, found at online, at Amazon, and at Harvey Norman, joining some of the other recent arrivals from the company, including a pool cleaner.
