This Smart Gadget Cleans Your House While You Workout!
Last week we showed you My Diet Plate, an entry into the Electrolux Design Lab competition. And today we have another gadget currently in the running for the program’s top honors: Orbita. Think of Orbita like Roomba‘s cooler, healthier cousin. Why healthier? Because Orbita runs on your kinetic energy. Genius! Let’s take a look at how it would work.
Orbita comes with two pieces: an activity monitoring wristband and the vacuum. (The vacuum is currently designed to be a hovercraft, which we think is pretty sweet!) The activity tracker is similar to those that we’ve covered in the past, but this time all that monitoring serves a purpose—it charges the the vacuum. So as you go about your day—morning workout, running errands, walking to lunch, or evening yoga—the motion tracked by your wristband translates into a charge for the vacuum. Since this is in concept phase, there are still some technical logistics to work out, obviously.
When you’re ready to clean your home or apartment, Orbita is voice-activated. So using a phrase like “Come on, Orbita” will turn the vacuum on. It will only clean where it senses dirt—conceivably saving energy by only cleaning what’s dirty. Once it’s done vacuuming, simply say another phrase like “Thanks, Orbita” to turn the machine off.
Because we’re all about saving time (especially on those things we don’t enjoy doing), we love the idea behind Orbita. Plus, anything that rewards us for going to the gym—especially with a clean house—is a win in our book. We’ll be excited to see how exactly the technology comes together to transfer the motion captured by the wristband to the actual vacuum.
What do you think of this gadget? Is it something you’d use? Tell us what you think in the comments!
