A “floor cleaning” robot cleaner appeared on the floor … “The culture of cleaning has changed”

Robot vacuums that only vacuum floor dust have become an old saying. Nowadays, robotic vacuum cleaners not only clean the floor with water that scrubs the floor like a human, but also optimize the cleaning motion with artificial intelligence (AI) and move safely. As cleaning robots evolve in this way, their popularity also increases. With the recent coronavirus infection (Corona 19) increasing the amount of time spent at home, robot cleaner sales are on the rise.

The ‘LG Code Zero M9 ThinQ’, a robotic water mop vacuum cleaner, introduced by LG Electronics in August, has no wheels. Two circular mops rotate to clean the floor and drive at the same time. The heavy weight of the body (2.3 kg of weight) is removed by pressing the floor firmly as if a person was washing with water. With AI deep learning technology learning 700,000 object images in advance, it also identifies the structure of the house by itself. 6 laser sensors, bumper and cliff sensors, etc. They effectively detect and avoid obstacles.

In-bo Shim, head of LG Electronics’ robot cleaner development project, said: “There were products that included a wet mop cleaning function among the existing robot cleaners, but they were at the sweeping level, hence the satisfaction. for the cleaning performance it was not high. I want it, but to do it I developed a unique structure without wheels by exploiting the load of the product “. He added: “As it was a wheelless product, achieving the accurate driving performance of the rotating plate was a challenge, but we have overcome this problem with various sensors, camera position correction, and artificial intelligence technology.”

As the reaction to the robot vacuum is getting hotter, other companies are constantly releasing products. Samsung, a rival to LG and home appliances, plans to release a new “Powerbot” robot vacuum cleaner later this year. According to the industry, this product is Samsung’s first robot cleaner exclusively for wet mops. In fact, Kim Hyun-seok, president of the Consumer Electronics (CE) division of Samsung Electronics, said: “We are preparing a new robot vacuum cleaner at the ordinary shareholders’ meeting in March. Our cleaning culture will change a lot “.

Previously, Japanese consumer electronics company Panasonic also introduced a wet mop cleaner robot (MC-WMD85) last month. This product is characterized in that it automatically supplies water and allows the removal of wet tissues. There are no problems washing separately because disposable wet wipes are used instead of wet wipes. A household appliance industry official said: “The wet-mop robot vacuum cleaner is competitive not only in Asia, where a sedentary culture is common, but also in the West, where tiles and floors are familiar” and “the related market will always grow. more.

The home appliance industry estimates the robot vacuum cleaner market at around 300,000 units. It is believed to be growing steadily from 200,000 units in 2018 and 250,000 units last year. In particular, industry analysis shows that sales volume has increased further with the addition of a mop cleaner robot this year and the consequences of the Corona 19 have overlapped.

In fact, according to Lotte Himart, sales of robot vacuum cleaners from January to November this year (from 24) increased by 65% ​​compared to the same period last year. “As social distances continue, robot vacuums that replace cleaning are becoming more popular due to longer home stays due to continued social distancing.” “Recently, even families with pets I also find a lot for the purpose of tidying loose hair.”

Reporter Jang Ju-young [email protected]