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Home / News / Vax vac rotates so you don’t have to

Vax vac rotates so you don’t have to

“Easy-to-use vacuum cleaners to free up robots for more important things” not subject of 2015 TED talk

Hey, that vacuum’s got no human.

It’s the new wave of robot vacuum cleaners, innit? Turns out people were just too freaked out by appendageless flat robots snuffling their way about under the sofa. Robots need to look recognisable. Take robot cars, for example – they look like cars. Robot people, AKA cyborgs, look like people. So why should robot vacuum cleaners not look like normal vacuum cleaners, complete with an articulated sucker pipe that flails about looking for dust to bust?

Ah, now I see. You are a trickster, for it does need a human.

Of course it does! But the thing with vacs, such as this new Vax, is to make them ergonomically seamless. If they’re easy to use and fun to use, then they’re actually a damn sight more effective than a robot vacuum cleaner, with their feeble suck-engines and fallible navigation decisions. The Vax AirRevolve is of the ‘cylinder’ form factor, as preferred by professionals, as opposed to the ‘upright’ type, preferred by vacamateurs. And, as you can see, the AirRevolve is actually a cylinder.

Cylinder by type, cylindrical by nature!

Catchy. But yes, this dust destroyer weebles along on its widely-spaced and obstacle surmounting wheels, while all the gubbins and dustbin are safely contained within the center section. Come to a set of stairs – the nemesis of the upright – and you can up-end the AirRevolve, standing it on its stable end while you work your way up the stairway. To heaven, if you like!

That was forced. Does it shampoo the carpet, then, if it’s a Vax?

Nope, it’s not one of them watery types. Just a straight up-and-down, girl you turn me, round-and-round vacuum cleaner. It has a powered head, so that the brushes whizzle up stubborn dog hairs and ting, and it’s A-rated for power efficiency. HEPA hypoallergenic filter, natch. Now we haven’t used it yet, so we can’t comment on whether it’s superior to your Dysons or your Panasonics or your Electroluxes, but the Vax AirRevolve certainly looks like £300 of spin-on-a-sixpence spring-clean funster.

Profile image of Fraser Macdonald Fraser Macdonald consulting editor

About

Fraser used to wear a Psion Series 3 palmtop in a shoulder holster. Perhaps he still does.Either way, his lifelong mission - including fourteen years for Stuff - has been to see whether the consumer electronics industry can ever replicate that kind of cyborgian joy.So far: nope. Despite a plan to combine a action camera and Olympus Eye-Trek goggles to become Man Who Sees The Vision Of A Man Three Inches Taller Than Himself.He also likes mountain bikes, motorbikes, cars, helicopters. Still thinks virtual surround is witchcraft. Dislikes jetskis, despite never having been on one.