We’ve seen continual growth in the home robotics market over the past 5 years, with ECOVACS being a part of the leading pack. Last year the X1 OMNI brought new features to market; this year the X2 has taken another leap forward.
ECOVACS held a media event in Sydney this week, where the latest two devices were demonstrated, including the OMNI X2 and the GOAT G1. There’s plenty to talk about and explore for both of these devices from the design ethos to the delivery of simplicity in use to the consumers.
ECOVACS OMNI X2
The logical successor to the OMNI X1, the X2 takes pretty much everything a step further. The first and most obvious two items are the physical size and unit shape. The OMNI X2 is physically smaller than its predecessor as we outlined a week or so ago.
During the demonstration, we were shown a number of these key features and how they translate from paper, to real-life usage. The key ones for me, are object avoidance, the capability to clean corners effectively and the efficiency of the device. These were big ticks, as you can see the OMNI X2 avoids unexpected obstacles — ie. People — within a mapped area, really hits the corners well and can get into much lower clearance areas than its predecessor.
A couple of the stand-out changes on the OMNI X2 include edge-to-edge coverage, with the rotating brush that pulls dirt and dust into the vacuum. The increased 8,000Pa suction and the reduced physical size in all dimensions, make it more manoeuvrable and more capable than the previous model.
The ECOVACS OMNI X2 is available from the 21st of September for $2,499.00
ECOVACS GOAT G1
Onto something that is sort of new…
I say sort of because it’s an adaptation of the existing technology to an outdoor environment and instead of cleaning floors it’s mowing lawns. The ECOVACS GOAT G1 is an interesting proposition, although depending on your property, probably not a perfect solution.
The GOAT G1 can handle a single lawn area — if you’ve got separate segments of lawn, this isn’t the solution for you — and deliver up to 600 square meters of mowing daily and a total area of up to 1,600 square meters.
Before you get to this point though, there are a few things to do, including setup the GOAT.
Getting the GOAT ready for use is surprisingly simple as you can see in the demonstration below, where — not the full area, this was at a media demonstration site — the outer edge of the lawn is mapped in minutes. A number of other key features are outlined during the demonstration also.
I have a reasonable amount of lawn space at home, but until a device like this can traverse multiple paths without destroying itself or the path, I’m afraid it’s a no from me. But I’m very interested to see what the second generation has to offer: Perhaps (like mop lifting on vacuums) we’ll see a mower capable of lifting the blades automatically, moving to a new (mapped, of course) area or two and being a genuine efficiency and time saver for home owners.
If you’ve got a large, single lawn space that you need maintaining; The GOAT G1 will be available from the 21st of September for a cost of $2,999.00 through the usual retail channels.
Disclosure: ECOVACS covered the expense of flights to Sydney for Phil to attend the event
