Dyson is back in the robovac game with a new device called Dyson 360 Vis Nav. However, unlike the king of cordless stick vacuum’s previous two attempts, the Dyson 360 Eye from 2014 and the more recent Dyson 360 Heurist from 2020, which had a weirdly tall and stumpy form factor that can’t even fit under furniture, the new Dyson 360 Vis Nav will be able to.
Dyson said it can fit under a 99 mm (3.9 inches) tall gap. But I think it may still be behind its competitors. Anyhoo, the new Dyson 360 Vis Nav has a typical robot vacuum design, which is low and wide. But it isn’t round. It has adopted a D form factor with a straight front where it has a full-width brush.
The brush is Dyson’s new triple-action brush bar which is the first brush bar to combine three ways to deep clean, namely, soft ‘Fluffy’ nylon for large debris on hard floors, anti-static carbon fiber filaments for fine dust on hard floors, and stiff nylon bristles to dig into carpets. The full-width brush allows for a wider coverage path and really gets into corners that round robovac can’t.
Where a typical robot vacuum has a spinning brush on each side to reach the edges, Dyson 360 Vis Nav has an L-shaped red squeegee that automatically extends out from behind the brush bar when it detects a wall. Where the spinning brush “kicks” the dirt to the brush or suction point, the L-shape rubber contraption will redirect suction toward the brush where it will get rolled and sucked in. Not sure how well will that work.
Again, where most such devices use IR, LIDAR, and cameras to “see”, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav relies only on cameras to feed Dyson’s proprietary Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) system. It has a 360-degree fish-eye hemispheric lens on top – in addition to 26 sensors that enable intelligent navigation, including obstacle avoidance, and continuously detect dust to adjust the power of the suction appropriately.
It further features a dual-link 4-bar suspension system and multi-stage gearing to maintain traction and balance, allowing this little fellow to climb steps up to 2.1 cm (0.83 inches) tall while maintaining the downforce on the wheels.
On the suction department, it features a newly developed Dyson Hyperdymum motor that spins up to 110,000 RPM, creating a suction that Dyson said is six times the suction of any other.
The robot vacuum further benefits from a fully-sealed HEPA filtration system that traps dust and seals in 99.99% of particles as microscopically small as 0.1 microns.
The machine is outfitted with a battery good for 50 minutes on a single charge and takes about 2.5 hours to fully recharge.
The Dyson 360 Vis Nav Robot Vacuum Cleaner was announced in May and it is now available in Australia and in Japan for AU$2,399 and 189,200 yen, respectively (about US$1,641/US$1,364). It is not clear how much it will retail for stateside, up North, or in the U.K. when it finally becomes available.
Images: Dyson.
