Vote for this Post! Look for #14 – Duster Drone

The Duster Drone is a concept that I have been fiddling around with in my mind for quite a while – in fact, for many years. Most people smile politely and shake their heads when I explain the idea, but no one seems to take this notion seriously. Well, our friends at PayPerPost have given me a good motivation to hunker down and describe this idea in detail and perhaps win a Roomba. The PPP Blog Battle Royale is pitting blogger against blogger to showcase their word slinger skills and this week the challenge is to invent and describe a new robot for iRobot. Let’s get into an innovative mindset and brainstorm this bot.

I hate dust. I hate dusting.

This is a real problem – dusting is really not a fun job and realistically there are no automated methods of getting rid of dust that has already settled on every surface in your house. Removing dust that is moving around in air is pretty much addressed by air cleaners – they suck in the dust floating in the air and filter it out. What if there was a robot – bot – drone – or automated method of getting to the dust that has found a beachhead in your living space? What are some creative ways we can design something that can duplicate the dusting process?

The Roomba works in a two dimensional world. It moves around on a relatively flat plane – except when it encounters things like piles of dirty laundry. Roomba does not try to clean walls by crawling up and down them (well, I should say that the home Roomba doesn’t – but the pool cleaning bot does – the walls of the pool that is). Cleaning and removing dust is a complex three dimensional activity, which is why passive tools like air cleaners are wonderful tools – they remain static and allow natural air flow to bring the dust to them. We need a method that takes the battle to the dust – we need something that can fly. A device that can fly allows for much easier movement in a 3D world. I am not throwing out the idea of a crawling robot that is capable of creeping up walls, doors and shelving – but, I am thinking that a flying system might be a more straight forward concept for this discussion.

Have you seen those indoor/outdoor helicopter toys? You can easily control them with a remote control. A helicopter is a great way to get around in a three dimensional space. One of the first issues will be power for such a device, but we will make a simplifying assumption – we won’t worry about it for the moment! Physical limits are always so restrictive and we are doing brainstorming here. Realistically, let’s imagine a miniature helicopter that you could hold in your hand. Now, we have a device that can move around a room. A helicopter with rotor blades doesn’t sound very safe, but think of something that shrouds the blades and protects hands, fingers and pets from errant navigation.

The hovering device is just the platform for the duster (although the thrust from the blades may move some dust around). The idea is to move the dust from surfaces – get it into the air – then collect it with a static air cleaner. What is the best way to do that? How about the classic feather duster? Instead of the normal shape you imagine for a feather duster, think of our flying platform covered in feathers – like a robotic bird. The flying duster would then work its way around the room “dusting” by getting close enough to objects that it is able to disturb dust, but with proximity detectors it stops short of actually bumping into things. Are you seeing it yet?

Central to this process is an air cleaner filtering the dust from the air as it is being kicked up by the flying, feathered automated duster. Even if the bot could only run 5-10 minutes at a time – flying back to the recharging unit to power up again – it could potentially get a lot of dusting done during the eight hours you are at work every day. Viable? Sure – with enough thought put into the engineering for a device, I am sure this is very viable. Practical? Okay, I am more realistic about the practicality of such a device. Could it be created for a price point that would make it practical for the average American consumer? Probably not. For the high-income allergy sufferer? Possibly!