Aussie Robotic Vacuum Gets Helping Hand

Australian company Floorbotics won $64,000 funding from the Australian government to commercialize their new iVac machine.
The grant is from the Australian COMET fund for Commercialising Emerging Technologies. In addition to the grant, Floorbotics will get business advice on market research and completing the prototypes.

The iVac is a larger floor vacuum robot designed for commercial spaces. It has a 4 liter dustbin and can run for 1 1/2 hours before it needs to get a charge.

Floorbotics also has a home version called Floorbot which is expected in 2007.

The vacuums use a patented Autonomous Robotic Navigation Algorithm (ARNA) to map the room as they roam around vacuuming.

Robotic Vacuum Cleans Up In Innovation Funding Round -- 6 September 2006

Other Robot Vacuums