LG combines robot vacuum cleaner with mobile ‘augmented reality’ interface

LG comes with a new version of its vacuum cleaner robot Hom-Bot. The Hom-Bot Turbo+ can be controlled, among other things, by having a user point out a specific part of the house via the accompanying smartphone app.

The newly announced LG Hom-Bot Turbo+ will be shown for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show 2016, which will be held in January in Las Vegas, according to the company. The company’s augmented reality claim may be dubious: LG says that users can easily designate an area in the house for the vacuum cleaner to clean with their smartphone’s camera. However, the image of the app shows Google Street View-esque navigation buttons; it therefore remains unclear whether users really designate a location with their smartphone camera or whether they have to navigate through their home within the app and designate a location in this way.

Where previous Hom-Bot models are equipped with a maximum of two cameras to navigate through their environment, the Turbo+ gets a total of three. One is aimed at the ceiling to give the device an extra landmark and help determine where in the house it has already been. In addition, the cameras enable the well-known Home View and Home Guard functionalities. This allows users to view the camera feeds and control the robot from outside the home via the app. Home Guard takes pictures of moving objects when no one is at home and sends them directly to the owner’s smartphone.

Furthermore, the vacuum cleaner robot is able to clean in corners and avoids abysses in the form of stairs. The device makes 60dB of noise when it is in operation, which is about the level of a normal conversation. The company does not disclose the size of the battery. Previous models of the Hom-Bot have 2200mAh batteries that provide an operational capacity of 100 minutes. At the moment, LG has not yet announced what the Hom-Bot Turbo+ will cost and when it will be available in the Benelux.