Cleaning the house is more than just about sucking debris off the floor. It’s also about mopping up hard floors when you can.
Technology covers all sorts of things, as does convergence, and these days, the two intersect in the home in some rather clever ways.
Fridges that can track what goes in and out, laundry machines with controls over the “recipes” they clean with all from your phone, and smart energy usage for the cooling technology in your home when it gets hot (and when it’s cold). Robots that do your bidding are a part, particularly given the cleaning angle, but sometimes you just want to do things yourself, and there are gadgets for that, too.
In fact, technology can improve even the most basic of gadgets, something we’re seeing in the past year with the humble mop.
Dyson showed how this could work last year in the G1 Wash, a two part mop system that evolved from its V15 Submarine vacuum allowing fresh water to be used to mop the floor, while a vacuum picked up the dirty water and debris for another tank.
Dyson isn’t alone in this thinking, it seems, and Ryobi looks set to offer a familiar and similar take on the idea with its 18V One+ HP Wet and Dry Floor Hard Cleaner.
The concept is similar here, offering a two-tank system made of fresh water (or fresh water with a floor cleaning chemical) and a dirty water waste bin. As you move the Ryobi Floor Cleaner around, the head mops and wipes the floor, sucking up the now-dirty water and debris into the waste bin tank.
A self-cleaning process allows you to quickly clean the Floor Cleaner, doing so in 60 seconds to cut back on any manual labour for cleaning the gadget.
“We’re giving households a reliable, time-saving solution that’s designed to keep up with busy lives by providing a deeper clean without the hassle, so Australians can keep their floors spotless without spending hours vacuuming, then mopping and waiting for their floors to dry,” said Andrew Cameron, General Manager of Product TTi, the company that owns Ryobi.
While Ryobi’s idea isn’t entirely new, it does provide another offering for this approach, and one that comes with an interesting feature: compatibility with the battery system used on Ryobi’s tools.
Officially, any gadget made as part of Ryobi’s “One” range — which includes the Wet and Dry Hard Floor Cleaner — can see its universal battery made to work with other gadgets, such as lawn mowing and garden maintenance gear.
If you already own a Ryobi One gadget already, your battery is supported, giving you a little extra runtime over the 35 minute maximum for the Floor Cleaner. Conversely, the battery for this cleaner could end up giving you another battery for your other Ryobi gadget.
The price also aims to be that little bit different from Dyson’s offering, with the Ryobi equivalent set to arrive for $699 in Australia, roughly $300 less than the $999 Dyson Wash G1.
Australians keen on trying it out will find the Ryobi Hard Floor Cleaner at Bunnings, with availability found now.
