The Electrolux Trilobite is a

robotic vacuum cleaner A robotic vacuum cleaner, sometimes called a robovac or a roomba as a generic trademark, is an autonomous vacuum cleaner which has a limited vacuum floor cleaning system combined with sensors and robotic drives with programmable controllers an ...

manufactured by the Swedish corporation

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool Corporation, Whi ...

. It takes its name from the extinct arthropod, which scoured the ocean's floor.

History

The prototype cleaner was first seen on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television programme ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First broadcast on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorrow's World' ...

.'' It actually announced on 1 Dec 1997. In 2001, Trilobite was launched. Model ZA1 was the world's first commercially available autonomous vacuum cleaner. The Trilobite cost around $1,500. The second generation was released as Version 2.0 in 2004, model ZA2. It was developed in 2003.

Description

Trilobite had a weight of about 2 kg, a diameter of 35 cm, and a height of 13 cm. It features a number of casters in addition to the drive wheels. The robot has a run time of about an hour between recharging. The robot uses a semi-structured approach to traversal of rooms. The robot comes with a recharging circuit that allows extended operation for hours at a time. The Trilobite contains a

vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum, is a device that uses suction, and often agitation, in order to remove dirt and other debris from carpets, hard floors, and other surfaces. The dirt is collected into a dust bag or a plastic bin. ...

and a removable roller brush capable of working on deep-pile carpet. It has the ability to map rooms and avoid obstacles by using

ultrasonic sensor Ultrasonic transducers and ultrasonic sensors are devices that generate or sense ultrasound energy. They can be divided into three broad categories: transmitters, receivers and transceivers. Transmitters convert electrical signals into ultrasou ...

s and Mark 2 model also had a

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

. It recharges itself on a charging base, which it automatically finds when has completed its cleaning task or its power runs low. The Trilobite will indicate when the dustbin needs to be emptied. Its

s allow it to come within 1" of objects without colliding with them. This object detection is fairly reliable, but sometimes fails if the

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

approaches an object with a sharp corner. In this case, the

ultrasonic Ultrasound is sound with frequencies greater than 20 kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply to any frequency range, includi ...

beam is not reflected, and the Trilobite will gently bump into the object. Because the Trilobite stops a short distance from walls and other objects, it leaves small areas that are not fully cleaned. The robot will drive around the boundary of the room and upon completion of the cycle it will move at random through the rest of the room. Magnetic strips are used to block off areas that the Trilobite should not enter, and

sensors (on the Mark 2 model) protect it from falling down stairs or off ledges. Electrolux has discontinued the Trilobite, removing any product information from its website, referencing instead its Wikipedia page for information. In September 2016, Electrolux introduced the successor to the Trilobite, the MotionSense. An international version of the teaser video was released on January 9, 2017.

Patents describing features of the Trilobite

* WO 02067744 (A1) Wheel support arrangement for an autonomous cleaning apparatus. * WO/1997/040734 Autonomous device. * USPTO 7647144 Obstacle sensing system for an autonomous cleaning apparatus. * US5935179A System and device for a self orienting device (the ultrasonic detection system)

References

External links

Electrolux Trilobite homepage
(archived copy of trilobite.electrolux.com)
Everyday Robots Review: Electrolux Trilobite Robotic Vacuum

BBC1 television listings for Friday 10 May 1996
{{Electrolux Robotic vacuum cleaners 1996 robots Robots of Sweden Electrolux products Rolling robots

History

Description

Patents describing features of the Trilobite

See also

References

External links