Xiaomi's new robot vacuum cleaner costs less than S$400 Xiaomi's smart home ecosystem has a new addition today! Developed by Mi Ecosystem company Rockrobo, the Mi Robot Vacuum is a highly intelligent home cleaning device with 12 different sensors such as Laser Distance Sensor (LDS), an ultrasonic radar sensor and cliff sensor to scan its surroundings 360 degrees 1,800 times per second. It also has a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm to map out the layout of your home and determine the best cleaning routes. Using the Mi Home app, the user can switch on and remotely control the Mi Robot Vacuum. Other specs include a powerful Nidec brushless DC motor, a main brush with adjustable height and a 5,200mAh battery for up to 2.5 hours of cleaning. The Mi Robot Vacuum will be available in China from 6th September for 1,699 RMB (~S$347). At time of publication, there is no information on whether it will be launched in Singapore. AV Peripherals and Systems

Media Streamers and Hubs News for Past 12 Months By subscribing, you indicate that you have read & understood the SPH's Privacy Policy and PDPA Statement. The iRobot Roomba 880 features iRobot's revolutionary Aeroforce Performance Cleaning System that claims to be remove 50% more dirt, dust and hair. home appliance, robotic vacuum cleaners, irobot, roombaNeato Robotics is a relatively new company that was founded only fi ve years ago and specializes in robotic vacuum cleaners. The XV Signature Pro is the company's flagship and it is apparent from the get-go that Neato approaches robotic vacuum cleaners a little differently.While circular-shaped robotic vacuum cleaners have always been the norm, the XV Signature Pro and even its predecessor have always had a square front design, allowing it to clean close to walls and corners. Interestingly (or annoyingly depending on your point of view), it is the only robotic vacuum cleaner in this shootout to not have a remote control.

This can be a bit of a hassle to some users especially if you decide you want it to stop and return to the dock while it is in the midst of cleaning. zabar's vacuum cleanersAlso, this also means that there is no way to manually direct the device to areas that require cleaning - you would need to pick it up and place it. miele s2111 compact cylinder vacuum cleaner redFortunately, the XV Signature Pro features Neato's Smart Sensor technology and we found it to be a competent navigator. melissa vacuum cleaner 1800wUnlike other robotic vacuum cleaners, the XV Signature Pro uses lasers to scan and map the room and then plans how best to clean it, which is why users can often see it spinning around as it attempts to map out the area.

Like the Roomba, the XV Signature Pro has only "Clean" and "Spot" modes, "Clean" being its auto mode where the XV Signature Pro maps out the house and proceeds to clean it in the way that it deems best, while "Spot" mode focuses the device on a specific area.In our experience, we found that it was able to navigate logically and systematically, and was able to avoid obstructions, even low-lying ones that some others have missed.However, like its competitors, it had trouble negotiating light rugs as its brush rollers would often get tangled in them. Also, we noticed that there were some instances where it would inexplicably get stuck in corners.We can only surmise that it was trying to clean as close to the corner as possible and got stuck while doing so.The XV Signature Pro also has very strong suction power and this means that despite not having sweeping brushes, it could clean just as effectively. Of course, as a result of its strong vacuuming ability, we also found it to be the loudest.

Cleaning and maintenance is easy. The XV Signature Pro's dustbin is located top side, which we prefer as it reduces the chance of dirt falling out, and can be easily removed. Its brush roller also has to be regularly cleaned for optimal performance.Navigation: Laser sensorsSize: 33 x 10.1cmWeight: 3.9kgPrice: $899Read our reviews of the following robotic vacuum cleaners here:» Aztech VC2000» Iclebo Arte» iRobot Roomba 880» LG Hom-Bot Square» Neato XV Signature Pro» Samsung Navibot Corner Clean VR10F71Visit Hardware Zone for more stories.LG’s new Hom-Bot Turbo+ robot vacuum cleaner doubles as a home camera Ahead of CES 2016, LG is unveiling its new line-up of products, one of which is the Hom-Bot Turbo+. Think of it as a droid that cleans (#TheForceAwakens). The Hom-Bot Turbo+ is the latest generation of LG’s robotic vacuum cleaners, and the first with augmented reality technology. LG calls the new augmented reality tool Home-Joy. You use your smartphone’s camera to tap on any part of the room, and the Hom-Bot Turbo+ goes to that exact location and begins cleaning.

Should be pretty useful when you spill some potato chips on the ground and want your robot to take care of it. The Hom-Bot Turbo+ has triple camera sensors; the one on the front enables two smart features called Home-View and Home-Guard. Home-View transmits a real-time video feed to a paired smartphone so you can remotely control the vacuum from the comfort of your couch. When the Hom-Bot Turbo+ detects movement in the house, it can send photos to a paired smartphone using the Home-Guard feature. LG will also be showing the award-winning CordZero Canister vacuum cleaner, which is actually quite fun to use, at CES 2016.The Hom-Bot Square is easily the most distinctive robotic vacuum cleaner in this shootout thanks to its glossy candy red chassis and its square design. According to LG, the Hom-Bot Square features a square design so that it can better clean hard to reach corners with its long sweeping brushes.The Hom-Bot Square also has a highly advanced system of sensors that includes three front-facing ultrasonic sensors, cliff detectors near its sweeping brushes, and a top-mounted camera and bottom-mounted optical sensor that is together known as Dual Eye 2.0.

This array helps the device to create an accurate map of its surroundings and pinpoint its position in a room. The top camera takes as many as 30 photos a second, whereas the optical sensor can scan the surface up to 2,000 times a second. The device offers four different cleaning modes: "Cell by Cell", "My Space", "Spiral" and "Zig-Zag". The first two are arguably the most useful. In "Cell by Cell" mode, the Hom- Bot Square divides the house into smaller blocks and then proceeds to clean each block before moving on to the next.There is also an additional "Turbo" mode that is automatically activated when the Hom-Bot Square senses that it is vacuuming carpets.In "My Space" mode, users can specify the area to clean by first directing the Hom-Bot Square to draw its boundaries. It will then proceed to only clean the area within these drawn boundaries.This is useful because users can direct the Hom-Bot Square to areas that require more attention and also keep it away from areas that it might get stuck in.

On the whole, we were pleased with the Hom-Bot Square's cleaning abilities. While it was amongst the quietest, that does not mean that it has sacrifice on suction power and we found that it was able to clean thoroughly.Maintenance is also very easy, simply open the top lid to remove its dirt bin. However, since its uses a brush roller at the bottom, users would need to clean it regularly to prevent dirt from accumulating and restricting its vacuuming performance.On the navigation front, we were pleased to find that unlike other robotic vacuum cleaners, the Hom-Bot Square does not gently bump into object to see if it could actually go through them. It dutifully avoids any obstructions that its front-facing sensors pick up and only attempts to get as close as possible to clean around the obstruction.Sadly, despite its advanced sensors, we found that the Hom-Bot Square would sometimes miss low-lying objects and was prone to get stuck in certain situations.For example, since it was programmed to go as close as possible to obstructions, we found that cleaning the sides of walls, its sweeping brushes often got tangled with wires.