But It Refuses to Do Windows

Dusting off an old idea about life in the future, a major Japanese electronics company says it plans to market a robot that vacuums a room automatically, then puts itself away.

A price hasn’t been set for the home model, but the industrial version is expected to cost between $15,700 and $23,600, said Akihiro Tanii of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

After someone vacuums once with the 40-pound prototype manually, the dome-shaped machine can remember the area and vacuum it automatically.

The cordless, battery-powered cleaner has an ultrasonic sensor to detect obstacles and move around them.

A separate sensor detects the type of floor or rug and selects an appropriate vacuum nozzle, while another measures the amount of dust and adjusts the suction power.

After it finishes cleaning, the prototype returns to a charging station in a corner of the room to recharge its batteries.

Matsushita plans to finish development of the cleaner next year. No date has been set to begin marketing the product.

Matsushita markets products under the Panasonic, Quasar and Technics brand names.