Dyson has developed an innovative feature called “CleanTrace” to solve the problems consumers encounter during the home cleaning process. This new feature allows users to virtually “paint” the areas they clean using their smartphones’ augmented reality (AR) sensors to see which areas have been skipped or gone over too much.
An effective cleaning experience with Dyson CleanTrace
The CleanTrace feature uses the lidar scanner, especially found on iPhone 12 and newer models. Users need to mount their phones on vacuum cleaners. Currently, this feature is only compatible with Dyson's $1,000 Gen5detect model, and the phone holder will be sold separately. Dyson plans to add this feature to its mobile app as a free update in June this year.
According to the information obtained from Dyson's data, consumers often clean in an unplanned and inefficient manner, cleaning the same areas over and over or skipping some areas altogether. Based on this data, CleanTrace aims to make users' cleaning habits more effective. Ironically, while the Gen5detect model already has features like a green headlight that highlights dust and dirt, CleanTrace offers an added layer of verification and mental relief.
However, it's unclear whether the app uses information from the vacuum or why it doesn't work with Dyson's other vacuums or other brands. Images provided by Dyson point to some software tricks that can detect the vacuum head correctly. Creating this kind of third-party app can be quite simple for an experienced AR developer. Moreover, producing a handle that will provide a perfect look, angle and solid fit is another matter, and those with good 3D printing skills in this field can fill this gap.
As a result, Dyson's CleanTrace feature stands out as an important innovation in making users' cleaning processes more efficient and effective. This technology promises to take their cleaning experience to the next level, especially for manual vacuum users, by providing access to places that robotic vacuums cannot reach.