By Claire Reilly
Samsung has unveiled a new addition to its floorcare range at the Samsung Regional Forum in Jakarta today, showing off a new NaviBot vacuum cleaner designed specifically to target problem corners.
The NaviBot Corner clean takes the traditional circular shape seen across the NaviBot range and updates the design with the addition of two pop-out arms. Equipped with extra brushes, these arms extend the reach of the device and allow it to get into corners to sweep up dust and dirt.
The vacuum also uses an on-board camera to map rooms and remember its path, while users can also set boundaries inside the home with the Virtual Guard feature built into the device.
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Speaking today about the new NaviBot and its place in the Australian market was Samsung Electronics Australia’s head of Home Appliances, Mike Lilly.
“We’re focusing very much on reinforcing our NaviBot technology this year,” said Lilly. “We just launched the entry-level NaviBot Lite, and now we’ll be reinforcing the premium with the first CornerClean NaviBot.
“The major advancement is that it comes up into corners and wings come out to sweep up. So it can come right into the corners [of a room], thanks to these pop-out brushes.”
The NaviBot CornerClean is not the only range expansion planned for 2013, as Lilly explained.
“We’ll also reinforce this range towards the end of 2013 with a Wi-Fi model which will allow you to control the vacuum. The top of the machine has a camera — the purpose of the camera is actually to map the ceiling to give you the most efficient cleaning path. But you’ll be able to see images from the camera through Wi-Fi from your smartphone.”
This Wi-Fi image streaming will allow users to direct the vacuum and target problem areas through the help of a smartphone app.
According to Lilly, connected appliances will be a very strong brand message for Samsung through 2013 and beyond.
“Connected is very much becoming part of the overall story,” he said.
The NaviBot CornerClean will be launched in Q3 2013, according to Lilly. In a more traditional form factor, Samsung is also set to launch a new bagless canister vacuum to market in June 2013, while a new bagged canister will follow shortly afterwards in July.
The Samsung NaviBot CornerClean features pop-out arms with brushes that target hard-to-reach corners.