Dyson launches new vacuum cleaner that uses a laser to show how dirty people’s floors are

Andrew Griffin
Thursday 25 March 2021 12:25 EDT
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(Dyson)

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Dyson has revealed a new vacuum, the V15 Detect, which includes a laser to light up your floor and show just how unclean it is.

It also has “acoustic dust sensing” technology that is able to tell how clean the air being sucked in is, and show that information on an LCD screen at the top of the vacuum.

Dyson said that the new vacuum comes as its data shows 60 per cent of people are cleaning more than they did before, as they spend more time at home.

As such, the vacuum is aimed at ensuring people can be convinced they have given their house a “powerful deep clean”.

The laser itself is built into the fluffy head that is one of the ends that comes with the vacuum. It shines out of that head across the floor – it is “precisely angled”, Dyson says – and lights up the dust with a green glow.

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That light will show particles that might normally be missed because they are so small, the company says, since they would not normally show up under normal light.

The development of the laser came after an engineer noted that the particles in their home glistened in the sun, Dyson said. The company then tried to create the same process for the particles on the floor, and the new vacuum grew out of experiments with laser lights.

The light itself is green, which was chosen to give the most contrast, the company said.

As the vacuum and its light move across the floor, the air that is being pulled in is run through Dyson’s acoustic piezo sensor. Filaments inside the cleaner pick up the particles as they are being vacuumed up, and their vibrations tell the vacuum how many there are and how big.

As well as feeding that information out on a screen at the top of the vacuum, it is also used to trigger more suction power when the vacuum is used on areas with more dust.

Dyson also claimed that it has developed a new brush head that is able to avoid getting tangled up with hair – a common occurence that causes issues for other vacuums, including previous ones made by the company. It includes a set of 56 teeth that work like a comb, clearing hair out, Dyson said.

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