The wood floors in my home may be water damaged but at least they’re clean. When Swiffers came along, keeping them that way got a whole lot easier. But a new device called Mint promises to make cleaning wood and other hard floors even simpler. So simple in fact that you just have to switch it on and it does all the cleaning for you.
Developed by Evolution Robotics in collaboration with renowned industrial designer Yves Behar, Mint is a sleek robotic appliance that relies on internal sensors and advanced navigation technologies to circulate around and into every nook and cranny of your floor, dusting every inch as it goes, then parking itself back where it started and turning itself off when it’s through. It also uses popular cleaning cloths such as the Swiffer brand dry and wet cloths and other similar products to get the job done. A work of utilitarian genius it may be, but it also looks cool—the sleek little low-profiled box won’t cramp your visual style while it does its work. Its appealing form and superb function earned it a prestigious silver IDEA award earlier this year by the Industrial Design Society of America, too.
It’s scheduled to be available through direct channels in the third quarter and in retail outlets in the fourth quarter at a price of about $250, but you can reserve a Mint in advance by going to its Web site, filling out a form and submitting a deposit of $20. To see a video of Mint in action, click here.
