Annanova says that the Trilobite Robotic Vacuum cleaner is now on sale in the UK. The Trilobite is produced by Electrolux and the going price is a hefty £1000 (about $1623USD). At that price it may be hard to compete with the Roomba (about $200). The Trilobite has already been released in other countries, but now the UK has the priviledge to purchase them now. The Trilobite has the advantage of using ultrasonic sensors to avoid obstacles and for scanning the room to map it. It also has a brain smart enough to figure out a sensible cleaning path unlike other less intelligent robotic vacuums that just bounce around a room. Magnetic strips may be used to designate off-limit areas like the edge of stairs and such. It's short enough to scoot under tables and chairs, it runs about an hour on a full charge to it's NiMH rechargable battery, and it comes in a bloody cherry red color. One complaint about the Roomba is that it's basically a light duty carpet broom, but at the Trilobite's hefty price I'll bet it really... er, um,... vacuums well.

More news you can use: BBC, Sky News, SMH< /a>, IC Wales an older BBC article, article about Karcher's vacuum, some robot vacuum comparisons, Older EXN article,

Older Robots.net stories: Another first for Robotic Vacuums, Roomba, Roboking, Karcher, Roomba, Robotic Vacuums.