Vacuum

This nifty little quadruped robot has been trained to seek and eliminate litter by researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology, using a vacuum cleaner backpack with nozzles strapped to its ankles.

All was peaceful and gently sucky in the robot vacuum world – at least until this morning, when Dyson thundered in, Dysoning everything in its path, unleashing a fearsome 110,000 RPM Hyperdymium-driven beast that sucks six times harder than any other.

iRobot has rolled out its first entry in the world of vacuum and mopping combination robots with what it says is the most advanced system of its type, featuring a retractable mop head that swings up and out of the way.

Everything has to end eventually – including the universe itself. It might be hard to imagine a catastrophe big enough to affect the entirety of existence, but here are some of the leading hypotheses about how the universe could end, and when.

The new Dam Cooler debuts as a 25+ quart ice box that saves bulk and weight by ditching poly foam and relying on thin, efficient vacuum insulation panels. It keeps food and drink organized with a series of dividers and trays.

While there already are powered suction-cup devices that allow people or robots to climb walls, they only work on smooth surfaces. Chinese scientists, however, have now developed a system that sticks to rough surfaces via spinning water.

​​iRobot has refreshed its line of cleaning robots, adding an new mopping machine to the mix along with an updated vacuum. Together, the Roomba s9 vacuum and the Braava jet m6 mop are designed to work in tandem to keep floors dust and dirt free, without any input from the user. ​

​Robots are often equipped with vacuum grippers, for holding onto flat objects. Typically, those grippers are powered by compressed air, which has some drawbacks. Now, however, scientists have developed one that instead utilizes an artificial muscle.

James Dyson has turned his hand to hair dryers, applying the lessons learned in Dyson's vacuum cleaners and hand dryers to create a faster, more balanced dryer that stops your luscious locks losing their sheen.

If you're looking for robotic assistance around the home, there are quite a few designed to keep the floors clean to choose from. We spent the past few weeks letting the Botvac D80 do most all of the vacuuming work for us, just from programming a simple schedule.

Gizmag has spent the past few weeks testing out the D35 Bare-Floor Vacuuming Robot. While it's drastically less expensive than best-of-class autonomous vacuums like the Roomba and it cleans fairly well, it has a hard time truly working independently.

Sweeping the floor can be a hassle in its own right, but for some people, having to stoop down and collect the sweepings in a dustpan is just too much. If you're one of those people, you might like Bruno – it's a garbage can that automatically sucks up debris that's swept toward it.