Dyson unveils 360 Eye and embraces our robot overlords

It’s official. Dyson is finally bringing a robot vacuum cleaner to market. Dyson unveiled the new 360 Eye today.

The 360 Eye is the culmination of 16 years, and $47 million in research and development. Dyson sat on the sidelines, and made notes about the issues and challenges facing rival robot vacuums like the Moneual Rydis H68 Pro, or the Roomba line from iRobot, and set out to resolve those problems.

The unit has a 0.4 liter bin for collecting dirt and debris, and weighs in at just over 5 pounds. It uses tank-style tracks rather than wheels for smoother all-terrain mobility. It also uses an energy-efficient V2 Dyson digital motor, capable of capturing particles down to 0.5 microns–or about 600 times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.

One of the coolest things about the 360 Eye might be the app. Dyson developed an iOS and Android app that enable users to schedule and monitor 360 Eye activity.

I am a huge fan of Dyson products in general. The engineering out of Dyson is generally innovative, next-level stuff. That said, this device looks tall–too tall to go under much of my furniture, and the Dyson press release proudly proclaims a mere 20-minutes of runtime. Those issues combined with speculation that the 360 Eye might cost north of $1,500 may make this a no-go for me.

I’ll withhold judgment until I have a chance to actually review one, though. I am excited for that opportunity, but I am going to have to wait a while. The Dyson 360 Eye will be available in Japan, but is not expected in the United States or elsewhere until sometime in 2015.