Skip to main content

Trifo’s Lucy robot vacuum won’t run over poop, doubles as a security system

It’s 2020, so it’s about time robots started becoming more useful additions to our home. It looks like one particular robot is going to fulfill some of our futuristic fantasies. Trifo, a home robotics company, unveiled its latest robot on Thursday, January 2. Its name is Lucy and its basically a super-smart robot vacuum and a security system. Lucy will be strutting its stuff at CES 2020, though there’s no word as of yet of when the robot will be available for purchase.

Lucy vacuum robot top
Image used with permission by copyright holder

“Revenue for smart home products globally will grow to $28.4 billion in 2020, up 54% from $18.5 billion in 2018, and the feature set of these devices continues to improve,” Trifo founder and CEO Zhe Zhang said in a statement. “Lucy reflects the evolution of our products from robot vacuums to AIoT-enabled home robots that can assist with a wide range of features that help people with their life and work.”

Recommended Videos

Lucy comes with two cameras that provide day and night surveillance. The day camera provides 1080P HDR video quality that compares with dedicated security cameras. The cleaning/security robot can also recognize and divide rooms automatically with advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. “In one example, if she sees a bed in a room, she will understand and label it a bedroom,” Trifo said in a press release. “Her family can designate cleaning areas through the Trifo Home App. Lucy is also Alexa-enabled and follows instructions to clean or not clean zones with ‘no-go’ lines.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Maybe one of the most exciting features Lucy has to offer is how the robot can determine what an object is and avoid it without bumping into it first using proprietary 3D geometry and 3D semantics algorithms. If you’ve ever had a robot vacuum swirl a clump of pet poop all over the carpet, you know how useful this feature can be. This also means you won’t need to wrestle a wayward sock out of the vacuum.

Sometimes advanced smart home devices like these load up on features, but forget the basics. Surveillance and advanced A.I. are great, but is it going to suck up all the crud on your floor or die after 30 minutes? It looks like Trifo covered all the bases. Lucy has 3,000 Pa suction that will take care of even dirtier floors and a 5,200 mAh battery will keep her powered up to 120 minutes.

Alina Bradford
Alina Bradford has been a tech, lifestyle and science writer for more than 20 years. Her work is read by millions each month…
Robot vacuums give me hope Amazon’s Astro won’t fall down stairs
Amazon Astro home robot on a cliff

Amazon’s Astro home robot undeniably stole the show during the company’s annual fall event, teasing what the future of the home will look like with a friendly bot that can rove around the place. We’ve dreamed of the day when robot butlers would help us tackle some time-consuming chores, like cleaning up the floors, but Astro is being marketed more as a security robot on wheels that can watch over your home -- and even check on important matters -- while you’re away.

Recently, however, leaked documents indicated that something was amiss with the wheeled home robot. The leaked internal development documents paint Astro as an incomplete, rushed project that’s a “disaster that’s not ready for release.” Furthermore, there’s also a strong chance that it would send itself down a flight of stairs if such a situation presented itself. That’s a scary thing to imagine, especially given that we’re talking about a $1,000 piece of tech here. You don’t want that kind of money flushed down the toilet, or in this case, hurled down the stairs.

Read more
Poop’s easy. Dodging wires is the holy grail of robot vacuum obstacle avoidance
Roborock S7 robot vacuum cleaning a rug on a hardwood floor.

Robot vacuum owners fear nothing so much as they fear poop on the floor. Most of us have heard the horror stories of a robot vacuum smearing a pet's droppings across the carpet and drawing it into its inner workings, but that's nearly a thing of the past. Modern navigation algorithms, collision detection, and improved sensors mean robot vacuums rarely ever run into poop anymore. Wires are a different story, though.

Robot vacuums have a harder time dodging wires than they do poop, for a variety of reasons -- yet wires cause just as many problems for the vacuum. A wire sucked up into the brush can jam the vacuum, damage whatever electronics the wire is plugged into, and more. Most of all, it becomes a headache for the user. Why are wires so hard to avoid for robots?
Wires are low profile
There are two main navigational systems employed by robot vacuums: Lidar and VSlam. Both of these systems use different methods and algorithms not only for navigation, but also for collision avoidance, room mapping, and more.

Read more
Is it worth it to buy a self-emptying robot vacuum now?
iRobot Roomba i3 Plus dirt disposal unit

If you’re shopping around for a robot vacuum, you’re no doubt familiar with the self-emptying variety. These devices have optional dustbins that will essentially vacuum the inside of your robot vacuum, depositing dust, dirt, pet hair, and debris into a sealed vacuum bag. You’ll see these marketed as Clean Base Dirt Disposal (iRobot), Auto Empty Station (Ecovacs), or Self Empty Base (Shark). Are self-emptying bases worth it, though?
Automatic dirt disposal: What to expect
There are a few things to consider in robot vacuum models that feature a dirt disposal base option. One is the size of the emptying station because you'll need to make sure you have a place to put it. These bases are typically tall and narrow, meaning that unlike a basic vacuum robot, they won’t fit under most furniture. Some manufacturers are now starting to redesign these units so they can hide a bit better. You’ll need to find a place to put the disposal base that’s free from obstacles so the botvac can get to and from its work easily. You'll also need power and an area free of low furniture.

iRobot Roomba s9+ Image used with permission by copyright holder

Read more