[CES2010] Mint Sweeper Robot Is As Smart As It Is Cute, Maybe Smarter
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Saturday, 9 of January , 2010 at 5:15 am
You don’t need to be a robot vacuum to be good at autonomous cleaning, and Evolution Robotics’ Mint sweeping robot is proof of this in a clever (and adorable) little package. Instead of sucking, like the XV-11 and Roombas do, the Mint is designed to use disposable Swiffer pads (wet or dry) to keep your floors clean (rather like this). Just stick a Swiffer pad on the bottom of the bot, tell it whether you want it sweeping or mopping and hit the go button (one of only three buttons on the entire robot). It couldn’t be simpler. Simplicity, really, is one of the things that’s at the heart of the Mint: it’s very easy to set up and very easy to operate, because if it’s any harder than just busting out the Swiffer broom and doing it yourself, it’s useless.
Despite the simple way in which it operates, the Mint has some clever stuff going on under the hood. To figure out where it is, the Mint uses the NorthStar system (the same system that WowWee uses), which is a small projector that throws a couple of infrared spots up on your ceiling. A sensor on the top of the Mint can see those spots, and from their relative position and orientation, judge its location fairly accurately. The Mint also uses other sensors (like an inertial measurement unit, a bumper, and some proximity detectors) to get around, so it’s not a problem if it can’t see the NorthStar most of the time.
We got an overview of a bunch of the Mint’s features from an Evolution Robotics engineer at CES this week, check it out:
As he said, the Mint should be available in Q3 (Q4 retail) for somewhere around (but under) $250.
Press release vid, after the jump.
Comments (1)
Category: Consumer
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Comment by fun
Made Saturday, 16 of January , 2010 at 8:04 am
stoopid design… not effective. what a waste of development cost. will be a flop in the market.
