Techno gadget » Home appliances

Samsung Navibot Vacuum

krish — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:42:11 +0000

Navibot has been in development for awhile, and after some positive reviews in Italy, the whole continent can get their hands on one this April. Using a camera-based system Samsung has developed called “Visionary Mapping”, the Navibot shoots photos at 30fps of the room, creating a map and the quickest and most efficient cleaning route possible. The robot vacuum has five power modes: Auto, Max, Manual, Spot and Edge Clean. You can also set a timer if you’d rather the Navibot did its job after you left the room.

A Transformer loo

krish — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:09:41 +0000

The idea of having one’s toilet bowl suddenly grow legs and walk off because you’ve used up your ration of loo water is, to say the least, disturbing and awkward. Japanese toilet-maker Toto, which manufactures those amazingly high-performance commodes that can do everything but make you coffee, has just unveiled its latest outing, the Totorobo. Fortunately, the Transformer bowl is really a robot mascot on a mobile strap meant to promote the company’s eco-friendly Greenmax 4.8 toilets. As part of its water-saving feature, only 4.8 liters are used in a flush compared with the usual 13 liters.

Standing Umbrella

krish — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:22:30 +0000

This brolly deserves a standing ovation. Pun aside, it’s basically an umbrella given a tripod tip by designer Hironao Tsuboi, so it’s able to stand upright without any support. That would have been previously impossible due to the uneven weight distribution of curved handles on most sunshades. The design process, according to Tsuboi, is complex as it involves casting aluminum into different moulds and determining the optimal spread of the legs. US$49 is a still a tad steep for a parasol (you can buy it online here) and it probably wouldn’t work as well on uneven floors.

Toaster looks like printer

krish — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:56:56 +0000

Swiss designer Othmar Muehlebach conceived a toaster that not only looks like an inkjet printer, but it also toasts bread like one, too. The gizmo has an iMac-esque stand and you can drop the bread on the tray at the top which will then feed the slices into a slot where it’ll be toasted. This design has won second place at a design contest held in Switzerland but so far there’s no sign of it going into production.