This Music-Playing Cleaning Robot is Basically a Roomba for Your Bed
No matter how often you wash your linens, your bed is almost certainly full of nasty stuff. Bacteria, viruses, mold, fungi, dust mites, and their highly allergenic droppings get carried in by the air, your own body, and your pets every day. On top of that, humans produce an average of 26 gallons of sweat every year, which makes our mattresses extra cozy for unwanted spores and microbes.
While getting an allergy barrier to seal your mattress and pillows definitely helps, as does washing your bed sheets at least once a week, germophobes and those with lowered immune system responses might want to consider taking even more extra steps.
A new offering among robotic home gadgets will automatically sterilize your bed for you. The ROCKUBOT is basically like a Roomba for your bed, except it uses UV light and ultrasonic vibrations to eliminate the germs, bacteria, mites, and more that lurk in the space where you spend nearly a third of your life.
Ultrasonic waves prevent mites, bed bugs, and other pests from sleeping, feeding, and reproducing, and they’re completely inaudible to humans and pets. The ROCKUBOT’s creators say they’ve tested their product against E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans, as well as 900 living mites. When disinfection was complete, all of the mites were dead, and 99.99 percent of the other contaminants were eliminated.
The bot’s Kickstarter page reads: “UV-C light has been used successfully as a germicide and bactericide for decades. It can kill or disable the growth of micro-organisms like bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens, and it provides a chemical-free alternative to other disinfection methods, like using chlorine. Due to its effectiveness and advantages, UV-C is being used for an increasing range of applications.”
“It is used, for example, for disinfection in wastewater treatment plants, laboratories, air-conditioning systems, and even pools and aquariums, as well as in various stages of food and beverage industrial processes. UV-C is also used in medical and hospital settings to sterilize instruments, work surfaces, and the air.”
The bot features 24 smart sensors and a navigation system to keep it from falling off the edge of the bed, and it can even roam around underneath the blankets with ease. You can use it to clean toys, phones, and other objects in manual mode, too. To top it all off, the ROCKUBOT also plays music with Bluetooth 5.0, and doubles as a power bank so you can charge your devices as it works its magic.
No matter how many stars a hotel might have, or how fancy their bedding, they’re probably not deep-sanitizing the beds after each guest checks out (wouldn’t that be nice, though?). The ROCKUBOT offers peace of mind, and who knows, it might just improve your health, too. If you get sick often or suffer from allergies, it would be interesting to see whether you started feeling better after regular use. Would you be tempted to take one along the next time you travel, or use it daily in your own home?
The ROCKUBOT is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter, with early bird rewards offering a complete kit for $119, 54 percent off the expected MSRP of $259.
