The Dyson 360 Vis Nav robot vacuum packs tech heat to the nines

Dyson's new 360 Vis Nav robot vacuum is designed to address the three biggest frustrations that robot vacuum users have to live with — low suction power, inefficient navigation systems, and incomplete cleaning.

In true Dyson fashion, the company's latest wunderwaffe against the army of dirt seemingly meets these problems the only way it knows: if it's worth doing, it's certainly worth overdoing. 

Dyson claims that the 360 Vis Nav has suction power that's an unprecedented six times higher than any other robotic cleaner on the market. This is all thanks to the Hyperthrusterunobtanium — sorry, I mean the Hyperdymium motor — that can spin at 110,000rpm, just in case you wanted to recreate a neutron star in your living room. You know, just because.

Dyson pairs this motor with a triple-action brush bar (3-in-1, basically) that consists of soft, fluffy nylon to pick up large debris pick up on hard floors, anti-static carbon fibre filaments for fine dust collection, and stiff nylon bristles for deep cleaning carpets.

As such, the 360 Vis Nav can easily adapt to any floor type, as opposed to conventional robot vacuums that excel in a single floor type depending on the brush bar.

The 360 Vis Nav also addresses another area that robot vacuums struggle with — the edge of the wall. Dyson's over-engineered solution is pretty cool: the robot vacuum diverts power from the main engines to the side thrusters — I mean it uses side sweepers deployed by an advanced actuator and has a full-width brush bar, so it is effectively like a mini vacuum dedicated to removing dirt on these hard to reach spots.

Wall-follow sensors guide the 360 Vis Nav to hug along the room's edges and this nifty 'sweeper' will pick up dirt more directly and efficiently.

When it comes to navigation it's a given that you have to accept certain limitations as the tech for current-generation robot vacuums works well enough with considerations. Dyson's answer starts with a 360-degree vision system built around a fisheye lens for a panoramic view instead of the conventional liDAR module.

On top of that, Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) technology helps the unit remember where it has covered and works out where to clean next.

Believe it or not, there are 26 sensors on this robot vacuum that encompass a variety of purposes such as piezo dust detection (15,000 times per second) and obstacle avoidance.

With the dust sensors, the 360 Vis Nav is able to respond to dust sensed at home and even create dust maps for reference. Dyson adds that the robot vacuum has a high-level processor to compute the device's position within 71mm of accuracy, so it's less likely to miss a spot. 

Is all of this necessary? Given that robot vacuums are more for maintaining cleanliness, then probably not, but if the demos were anything to go by, the 360 Vis Nav will raise the bar for how a top-tier robot vacuum should perform — no doubt features such as the side actuator will certainly give the competition pause for thought.

If this is up your alley then you can purchase it at $1,999 at your local Dyson stores or Dyson.com.

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This article was first published in Potions.sg.