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Should I Buy a Robotic Vacuum Cleaner for My Home?
Here is all you need to know about advanced robotic vacuum cleaners that are designed to clean the floor automatically
Pooja Khanna Tyagi
14 July 2020
Houzz India Contributor. An Architect , Interior Designer, Valuer, a Marathon Runner, and love Writing Poetry and Creative Stories on Building Design. Have been practicing since the year 2000 with specialization in the field of Corporate Interiors with projects extensively published in journals of national repute. Recently honoured with the reputed A3 Foundation award for Journalism for the year 2016 an for architectural poetry in the year 2018. Currently practicing and residing in Delhi and Noida.
Website: www.khannaenterprise.com, Email: poojakhanna224@gmail.com, M:9891993392
Houzz India Contributor. An Architect , Interior Designer, Valuer, a Marathon Runner,... More
A robotic vacuum cleaner is a WiFi-enabled smart home-cleaning device with intelligent programming that creates a hands-free floor-cleaning system. The different components of a robotic vacuum cleaner include a small motor which propels the device around the home on wheels. It has brushes and rollers to collect all the debris and a suction mechanism that pulls the debris into the waste bin.
As robotic vacuum cleaners are slowly entering the Indian market, use this guide to find out whether a robotic vacuum cleaner is right for your home.
As robotic vacuum cleaners are slowly entering the Indian market, use this guide to find out whether a robotic vacuum cleaner is right for your home.
How does a robotic vacuum cleaner navigate about the home?
The robotic vacuum cleaner uses sensors to freely navigate, detect obstacles and move about the home. The different types of sensors include:
The robotic vacuum cleaner uses sensors to freely navigate, detect obstacles and move about the home. The different types of sensors include:
- Object sensors: These sensors are located near the bumpers of the robotic vacuum cleaner. Whenever the bumper hits an object, the sensor gets activated and changes the direction of the vacuum cleaner so that it finds a clear path.
- Cliff sensors: The cliff sensors use infrared rays to let the vacuum cleaner know whether it is near the top of a staircase. Once the stairs are detected, the vacuum cleaner turns and moves in another direction.
- Wall sensors: These sensors help the vacuum cleaner to detect walls so that it moves along the walls and cleans the edges of the room. However, these devices can go past soft surfaces like curtains and bed frills.
What are the advantages of robotic vacuum cleaners?
- A robotic vacuum cleaner is best suited for picking up dust, pet hair and loose debris, such as food particles, from the floor, carpets and rugs. Premium models are available as well: two-in-one wet-and-dry robotic vacuum cleaners that can be used to clean and mop the floor.
- The best use of a robotic vacuum cleaner in Indian homes is that since it is only 3.5 inches in height, it can easily glide and clean under different pieces of furniture, such as chairs, tables and beds, and other areas that are inaccessible during routine cleaning. Since urban Indian cities are prone to a lot of dust, dust bunnies tend to accumulate below the furniture, and it is a painful feat trying to get at those nasty balls of fluff and dust; robotic vacuum cleaners can reach them effortlessly.
- These devices are compact with a diameter of around 1 foot 2 inches (or more) so they do not take up lot of space at home.
- When you are at work, you can set the daily auto-cleaning time from the phone so that the robotic vacuum cleaner can automatically clean the floor.
- A robotic vacuum cleaner can clean for about two hours on a single charge – the time varies with different robotic vacuum cleaner models. When the battery power is low, these vacuum cleaners find their way back to the docking station which also functions as its battery charger.
- Robotic vacuum cleaners can map and clean an area of approximately 2000 square feet on a single charge.
What are the disadvantages of a robotic vacuum cleaners?
- Before a robotic vacuum cleaner is made to clean the home, items like loose cords, socks and small toys have to be removed so that the vacuum cleaner does not suck these items into the waste bin. If you want the vacuum cleaner to skip a particular room, the door should be closed so that it functions as a physical barrier. Some manufacturers provide magnetic boundary strips so that the robotic vacuum cleaner only cleans within the boundaries of the magnetic strips, something especially useful in an open-plan home.
- When a robotic vacuum cleaner is made to run on heavy carpets, it uses more suction power, because of which the battery power may get exhausted before time. The robotic vacuum cleaner takes at least 3-4 hours to fully charge.
- Another minus is that frilly rugs or floor coverings with tassels have the tendency to get stuck in the vacuum cleaner.
- The robotic cleaner cleans slowly and on level surfaces only. It cannot step up or step down to different levels to clean the home.
- The waste bins of the robotic vacuum cleaner are rather small and need to be emptied regularly. Also, the brushes and rollers should be cleaned manually on a regular basis.
What is the difference between a robotic vacuum cleaner and a conventional vacuum cleaner?
- For deep cleaning, nothing beats the efficiency of conventional vacuum cleaners, such as an upright vacuum cleaner, a canister vacuum cleaner or a wet/dry vacuum cleaner. A robotic vacuum cleaner runs on a small motor and battery, so it cannot match the suction power of conventional vacuum cleaners, which come with a hose attachment.
- Unlike conventional vacuum cleaners, a robotic vacuum cleaner can get under the furniture and clean properly.
- The robotic vacuum cleaner can only be used for cleaning floors while a conventional vacuum cleaners comes with a vast number of attachments that can be used to clean different areas, such as the sofa, windows, cobwebs on the ceiling and so on.
- The waste bin of a robotic vacuum cleaner is much smaller than that of a conventional vacuum cleaner.
- Robotic vacuum cleaners are less noisy than a conventional vacuum cleaner.
- The cost of a robotic vacuum cleaner is very steep in comparison to conventional vacuum cleaners. The prices of conventional vacuum cleaners that are suitable for cleaning homes start at ₹8000, while a robotic vacuum cleaner starts at ₹22,000.
What features should one look for in a robotic vacuum cleaner?
- The best robotic vacuum cleaners that are available in India include WiFi-enabled and technologically advanced devices with lithium-ion batteries that have more battery life.
- The robotic vacuum cleaner should have HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filtration so that most of the dust particles are absorbed by the vacuum cleaner and are not released into the air.
- It is advisable to purchase a robotic vacuum cleaner from a reputed brand so that the replacement parts, such as the brushes, batteries and wheels, are easily available.
- Choose a low-decibel robotic vacuum cleaner that makes less noise.
Recommendation
7 Ways to a Dust-Free Home
Hi-Tech Living: What Are Smart Homes?
Tell us:
Do you use a robotic vacuum cleaner for cleaning the floors of your home? Share your experience and recommendations in the Comments section below.
- Robotic vacuum cleaners can be a good addition to the home if the home is uncluttered, with a lot of bare floor area and low-pile rugs. Note that if the home is compact, with a lot of furniture, then the robotic vacuum cleaner will not be able to move freely.
- If you are looking for cleaner floors, these vacuum cleaners are good for light automatic maintenance as they prevent the build up of excessive dirt between routine cleaning or deep cleaning with conventional vacuum cleaners.
7 Ways to a Dust-Free Home
Hi-Tech Living: What Are Smart Homes?
Tell us:
Do you use a robotic vacuum cleaner for cleaning the floors of your home? Share your experience and recommendations in the Comments section below.
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