back to article One step closer to robot butlers: Dyson flashes vid of vacuum sucker bot

Video of Dyson's new hoover, sucking away. Dyson is trying out the Apple school of marketing with a teaser video for its newest product, due out on 4 September. The vacuum cleaner and fan manufacturer has popped a 26-second short on its YouTube account that appears to be shot from a camera mounted on the new piece of tech. …

  1. Doogs

    Apple school of marketing?

    Clearly a "homage" to the original RoboCop, Shirley?

    1. FartingHippo
      Terminator

      Re: Apple school of marketing?

      You have 20 seconds to comply ... I am now authorised to use extreme suction.

      1. Doogs

        Re: Apple school of marketing?

        "Dirt or debris, you're coming with me."

      2. nsld
        Coat

        Re: Apple school of marketing?

        "You have 20 seconds to comply ... I am now authorised to use extreme suction."

        Said no married women anywhere.........

        1. CmdrX3

          Re: Apple school of marketing?

          Giggle of the day award to you sir.

    2. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Apple school of marketing?

      List directives:

      1> HOOVER THE PUBLIC SPACE

      2> COLLECT THE INNOCENT BOTTLES

      3> PICKUP THE 'SLAW

      4> (CLASSIFIED)

      "It's time to clean up."

    3. Chris G

      Re: Apple school of marketing?

      Clearly they have taken a page out of the Robo Cop film and have borged some poor housemaid who has had a near fatal accident with her mop.

    4. chivo243 Silver badge

      Re: Apple school of marketing?

      @doogs

      Clarence Boddicker, you're coming with me, dead or alive.

      Priceless film.

    5. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Apple school of marketing?

      I'D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR!

      BTW, thumbups to all of the replies.

  2. AbelSoul
    Trollface

    the British firm is working on a robot hoover

    About time we had something to help us clean up these bloody robots.

    Can hardly move for the buggers.

  3. GreggS

    Or is it

    a toy hovercraft like the one that (briefly) appears in the vid?

    Either way, it will will either suck or blow in equal measure.

    And stop calling him Shirley.

    1. Gotno iShit Wantno iShit

      Hope its better than the DC01

      That both sucks and blows at the same time but not it the way you'd want of a vacuum cleaner.*

      * To be fair it's fine so long as you empty it when half full, change the filter every time (washable thankfully) and change the HEPA filter twice a year. Got a soon-to-be-banned 2kW Miele now.

  4. lurker

    This will be great

    Assuming you have a floor which is already almost clear of obstacles, of course.

    I, on the other hand, have something called a 'child'.

    1. BlueGreen

      Re: This will be great

      with a sufficiently powerful suction motor, the 'child' will cease to be a problem. Subsequently you will have more sleep and far more money left in your pocket.

      (I never quite got this 'child' business meself but some people seem quite fond of them).

    2. Kurt 5

      Re: This will be great

      Last attempt with a roomba ended with cat (24lbs / 1.7 stone / 10.9kg) jumping from tall bureau onto defenseless roomba which was stopped waiting for help. Lots of plastic breakage and the end of the roomba. Cat was smug.

      1. BlueGreen

        Re: This will be great @Kurt 5

        > 24lbs / 1.7 stone / 10.9kg

        Good god. Main coon?

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: This will be great @Kurt 5

          Was it waiting for you to dislodge a small vial of ricin?

          1. Kurt 5

            Re: This will be great @Kurt 5

            Roombas don't do well with pet fur. Aforementioned cat and the german shep doomed the roomba. The german shep was convinced not to chomp it after her first reaction to it -- which was to bark, pick it up and shake it.

        2. Kurt 5

          Re: This will be great @Kurt 5

          Yes -- wonderful cats. They don't think of themselves as cats.

  5. Daedalus

    Just wait until...

    ...some guy accidentally falls into it.

  6. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Is a robot Dyson

    still a robot hoover?

    --> if I have to explain...

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Is a robot Dyson

      "still a robot hoover?"

      ...Only if it's not spherical.

  7. DrXym

    Let's see how far the Apple analogy goes

    We'll only know if they succeeded in doing an Apple if in 5 years everyone thinks Dyson invented robot vacuum cleaners, forgetting how the likes of Roomba have been on sale for years now.

    1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

      This being Dyson ...

      In five years time, Dyson will sue Roomba for patent infringement. Oh wait ... that would be like Apple too.

      1. Rufus McDufus

        Re: This being Dyson ...

        Don't tell me - Apple will sue because the Roomba has curved edges?

  8. MikeyD85

    I bought a robot hoover once

    And now it's just gathering dust. :/

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I bought a robot hoover once

      Just as good a joke as it was when you nicked it off Tim Vine... :-)

      http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/19/tim-vine-your-favourite-joke-hoover-edinburgh-festival

  9. Spindreams

    I'm going to assume the OP knows that Hoover is a brand and competitor to Dyson and used the word tongue in cheek and not simply thinks it is another name for a vacuum cleaner.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Depends on where you live. In the UK 'hoover' is commonly used as a generic noun for a vacuum cleaner. IIRC, Hoover (the company) has not contested this usage, but if they did, they'd more than likely lose the trademark.

      1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

        I own a Hoover. It's a fridge... go figure.

  10. returnmyjedi

    I think a robot hoover is extremely unlikely. I'll wager it's an updated Omnibot 2000, to bring me tea and Swiss roll on baked beans.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Advance the design?

      It'll be a Big Trak dragging a DC02 around, you watch.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Robot hoover

      I will wager virtual money it is a robot hoover. The video looks like the view of the world though a fisheye lens aimed at the ceiling after the picture has been stretched out into a long thin panorama. I bet this is part of a system for identifying and navigating obsticals and mapping the edge of a room without having to actually feel for it reducing the potential of getting wedged underneath something.

  11. king of cardboard

    Robots are highly advanced idiots

    My beloved Roomba from 7 years ago had a wonderful spiral algorithm for covering the whole room, that was until it, trod in a cat pooh and methodically smeared it over every square inch of my house. The pooh killed poor Roomba, I hope Mr Dyson has solved this glaring design flaw.

  12. Mike 140

    It'd better be <= 1600 watts.

    1. Terry Barnes

      James Dyson said in an interview that they've never made a vacuum with an motor that powerful - they rely on efficiency rather than grunt to work.

  13. Lars Silver badge
    Flame

    Not new

    My wife bought one about six years ago. Swedish, running Linux and probably made in China. Will hoover but as it cannot move anything out of the way or reach those spots you actually want to hoover it's just a stupid gimmick. When it stopped to charge it had to go. If I ever mention the thing my wife turns into something I don't want to live with. I you want to help your wife (your self) install a system where you can push in the pipe in the wall close to the floor in every room and the damned thing is so far away that you cannot see it, smell it and most important hear it.

  14. Steve K
    Coat

    I bought a Dyson - wouldn't get another one...

    I've got one already.

    1. Vector
      Trollface

      Re: I bought a Dyson - wouldn't get another one...

      Was it in the last place you looked for it?

  15. Simon Rockman

    My Roomba has never found its way home

    It gets lost in the middle of the kitchen and bleeps plaintively.

    It's not very good as a cleaner but makes an excellent alarm clock.

    Simon

  16. Graham Marsden
    WTF?

    They may make good cleaners...

    ... but they make crap videos!

  17. wahankh

    I wonder if version two of their sucking robot will do better than their last one, which was a big and chunky heightweight. I remember seeing it when I worked there between 2003/04 the DC06.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You are a long way behind. Think about the comparison between the DC02 vacuum of then, compared with the newer ones with digital motor (cylinder or hand-held battery models) as of now.

  18. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    I've seen this film...

    "Thank god you're here officer. We found a strange rock in the field after the meteor shower. When we opened it, something rolled under the couch. Timmy tried to get it out..."

  19. Simon 26
    Stop

    I'd buy that for a Dollar!

    ... but not more than that because the Dysons that I have seen are overpriced, fragile, gaudy tat marketed to rubes.

    1. ian 22

      Re: I'd buy that for a Dollar!

      The video seems to indicate a loose connexion, possibly indicating fragile, gaudy tat.

      Sorry, I'll continue to use my completely non-autonomous Miele.

  20. Ilsa Loving

    Not Apple marketing, Valve marketing.

    And it worked. I'm curious now.

    If that thing talks with a GlaDOS voice, you won't hear my squeal of delight because it will be supersonic.

  21. Milo Tsukroff
    FAIL

    Will the battery kill it like the Roomba got killed?

    The Roomba got killed because nobody wants to replace a $100 proprietary battery. (Now the Roomba-maker is off making robots for the US military, where cost isn't an object and battery replacement is done to mil-spec.) Roomba batteries die and then the whole device gets thrown away --- if Dyson doesn't address the battery issue, their product will die too --- no matter how whiz-bang it works.

    Double-A's Forever!!!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Will the battery kill it like the Roomba got killed?

      Most proprietary batteries are made with standard rechargeable cells into a proprietary package. I found a shop not far away that replaces the standard cells inside proprietary batteries for a fraction of the price of the original battery. It does for many kind of tools.... a lucrative business it looks.

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