The Dyson 360 Eye was initially concocted back in 2002. After years of studying and experimenting, it is now ready for release. As the name implies, it uses a 360-degree vision system and can be manipulated through an Android or iPhone device.
Dyson had intended to launch a version of its vacuum cleaner in 2001, known to be labeled as the DC06. However, the plan was shelved as the executives were unsatisfied with the performance. For the following years thereafter, the company had vastly reduced the number of the machine's infrared sensors. The current 360 Eye is said to be capable of mapping out a detailed floor plan in order to navigate a room.
When it comes to sucking up dirt, the 360 Eye offers a lot of innovative features that can truly make it a leader of the pack. Other robot vacuums settle for weak, inefficient motors just to be able to conserve battery life. The 360 Eye, by contrast, uses the familiar V2 digital motor and combines it with a brush bar which covers the whole width of the machine as opposed to making a side sweep.
"We've been developing for a number of years some of the smallest and most powerful digital motors available, and getting that right has enabled us to give the machine very powerful suction, so it can have a very high performance clean," says Nick Schneider, a design engineer at the company.
Perhaps the most compelling feature of the 360 Eye is how it is capable of seeing its surroundings using an innovative vision system that took more than 100,000 hours to develop and had involved 31 robotic software engineers for the whole duration of the manufacturing process.
The camera, which is nestled on top of the circular machine, takes up to 30 f/s in order to help the robot cleaner in studying the environment. Each of the images is then processed by its internal software which would search for standout features. An example is when it finds the corner of a sofa. The robot vacuum will use its skills in trigonometry to calculate its distance from each of the room's landmarks. As the camera's shutter speed complements the machine's own speed, the 360 Eye can become fully aware of its exact location in the room and the unclean places where it should go next. It can also detect obstacles along the way using its infrared sensors.
The Dyson 360 Eye will be initially available in Japan at around Spring time in 2015. It will be arriving to the rest of the world later in the same year. Pricing detail is yet to be revealed.
