Sucking up a recumbent smoker's ashes in a London living room, the RoboVac - shown here in a photo-illustration - shuttles randomly around the area, vacuuming everything in its path. Buildt by Karcher, a German appliance company, the RoboVac monitors the level of dirt in the stream of incoming air with its optical sensors - that is, it detects when an area especially needs cleaning. When the RoboVac hits a grimy spot, the machine passes back and forth over it until the incoming air is clean - and with it, presumably, the floor.

Origin of Name
Company Name
Purpose
Facilitates cleaning duties in private households
Height
9.3 cm
Length
280 cm
Weight
1.4 kg
Sensors
Robot is still a prototype, therefore I can't give you at the moment all the technical data
Person-Hours to Develop Project
8-1/2 man-years for the hardware, 3-1/2 man-years for software
Project Status
Market launch planned for January 2001
Information Source
Frank Schad