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Quieter millo air blender uses magnets in place of a regular motor

By Ben Coxworth
September 07, 2022
Quieter millo air blender uses magnets in place of a regular motor
Because it's battery-powered, lightweight and compact, the millo air can be used outside of the home (although obviously not while driving)
Because it's battery-powered, lightweight and compact, the millo air can be used outside of the home (although obviously not while driving)
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The millo air base features capacitive touch controls, and can remember settings for individual users
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The millo air base features capacitive touch controls, and can remember settings for individual users
Because it's battery-powered, lightweight and compact, the millo air can be used outside of the home (although obviously not while driving)
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Because it's battery-powered, lightweight and compact, the millo air can be used outside of the home (although obviously not while driving)

Five years ago we heard about the compact millo blender, which was reportedly only 25% as loud as a regular blender. Well, the new millo air is claimed to be even slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, and to produce no motor noise at all.

Like the original millo, the millo air consists of two main parts: a battery-powered base, and a lidded transparent mixing chamber that gets filled with ingredients then placed upside-down on the base unit.

Base-activated spinning blades in the lid then chop up the ingredients, while the lid maintains a watertight seal. The user subsequently removes the 550-ml chamber from the base, turns it right-side-up, and removes the lid to access the blended contents within. If the blender is being used to prepare a smoothie, the chamber can double as a drinking cup – it's made of BPA-free plastic, and is dishwasher-safe.

The millo air base features capacitive touch controls, and can remember settings for individual users
The millo air base features capacitive touch controls, and can remember settings for individual users

All of that being said, how does the millo air's Magnetic Air Drive (MAD) system manage to be quieter than the millo's motor?

"In the first version, we had a brushless motor with a row of permanent magnets attached on top of it. Those magnets would form a so-called magnetic coupling with the magnets in the smart blending lid," millo CEO Adam Trakselis told us. "Now in millo air, we do not have a spinning motor. Instead, we have a magnetic field generator that turns a row of magnets in the blending lid that are attached to the blades."

Along with making for quieter blending, the MAD tech also allows the base of the millo air to be much thinner and lighter than that of the millo – the whole setup has a total weight of approximately 3 lb (1.4 kg). One charge of the base's 2,500-mAh lithium-ion battery is claimed to be good for 10 blends.

Should you be interested, the millo air is currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. Assuming it reaches production, a pledge of £169 (about US$194) will get you one – the planned retail price is £254 ($291).

You can hear it blending a smoothie – definitely still with some blade-whirring noise – in the following video.

millo air - green smoothie

Source: Kickstarter

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Around The HomeBlenderKickstarterMagnetismKitchen
4 comments
Ben Coxworth
Ben Coxworth
Based out of Edmonton, Canada, Ben Coxworth has been writing for New Atlas since 2009 and is presently Managing Editor for North America. An experienced freelance writer, he previously obtained an English BA from the University of Saskatchewan, then spent over 20 years working in various markets as a television reporter, producer and news videographer. Ben is particularly interested in scientific innovation, human-powered transportation, and the marine environment.

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4 comments
Claudio
right note under the first picture: using a blender in a car... what could possibly go wrong?
Adrian Akau
My 20 oz blender has a motor and is just a bit larger than the one above. It has a separate cap which allows covering and transport. I do not see how preparation or clean-up could be done properly in a car.
PAV
My God that was loud!
Jinpa
Using a plastic blender container to crack or crush ice will shorten the life of that container considerably. No mention of the cost of a replacement container, but at $250 a pop for the whole thing, it is way above what glass-container blenders cost. Sleek design, but, doesn't seem like a good value for the brief time it takes to do a blending job.