Yujin Robot YCR-M05-10

iClebo Arte – Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Review – This reliable and smart robotic vacuum cleaner cleans rooms quickly and efficiently with a minimum of fuss. The built in vision system maps rooms by looking at the ceiling, which makes the Arte quicker and more thorough than other cheaper robotic cleaners. The battery life is sufficient to vacuum an average Australian 4 bedroom home in one charge using the default cleaning setting. I use it on a weekly basis to clean the timber floors, Persian rugs, tiles and carpeted rooms in my home. I highly recommend the iClebo Arte, which I purchased online from Alpha Robot.

I purchased our Arte robotic vacuum cleaner in April 2013 as a mothers day present for my wife – on the proviso that I would use it to keep the house vacuumed =) We both work full time with two school-aged kids, so anything that can make domestic life a bit easier makes a welcome addition to our household.

I had heard about robotic vacuum cleaners for a while and had though they were probably a bit of a gimmick – that was until I visited a friend who had one that he used every day to keep dog hair from two huskies under control in his apartment. He had tried a cheaper Chinese bot and then upgraded to a Roomba, but said that he wished he had spent a bit more and got one with a vision system. The Roomba looked great, but he said it ran into trouble with tables and chairs, causing it to miss areas and over clean other areas – he felt that a vision system would make sure that the entire room was covered.

Following my friends advice, I decided to save up and purchase a higher-end robotic vacuum cleaner with a vision system. After doing some research online (search “iclebo arte” on youtube) and reading lots of reviews I discovered that the robotic vacuum sold by Phillips in Europe was made in Korea by Yujin Robot. I have always been impressed by Korean robotics engineers, so I figured if this bot was good enough for Phillips to re-badge and sell, it would be good enough for me. Now while it was possible to save a few dollars and import one of these directly via eBay, I decided to purchase it locally in Australia from online retailer Alpha Robot. They provide the security of a full local 18 month warranty, along with a range of spare parts including replacement brushes, batteries and filters.

The Arte arrived by courier 2 days after I purchased it. It comes with a remote, spare filters, a mop attachment and a cleaning brush – which is housed inside the top of its recharging unit. The Arte is quick to charge, taking about 1-2 hours, depending on the residual charge. I decided to use some blue tack to stick the recharging unit to the tile floor to prevent it from slipping about.

To start vacuum cleaning I simply turn on the Arte with the remote and press the play > button. The cleaner reverses off the charger, turns around and starts to traverse the room in a back and forth zig-zag pattern. In our house we have an open plan kitchen, living and dining area, which leads to the bedrooms and bathroom via a hall. This room is pretty complicated with a kitchen island, couches, tub chairs, rugs, cupboards, tables and chairs. The Arte starts and one end and gradually makes its way to the other and then down the hall. Along the way it vacuums under couches, and anything else it can get under – for this reason it generally does a better job than I can do by hand. The Arte is cleaver too, along the way it will return to couches and chairs and work its way around their perimeter ensuring that every little dust bunny gets picked up. We have a thick Persian rug, which the Arte struggles to get onto, but it is a persistent little thing and doesn’t give up easily. It has articulating back wheels, which is uses to lift its brush intake over the edge of the rug and then it just keeps going. It takes about 55 minutes to vacuum the living area and about 15-20 minutes for each bedroom.

Before turning the Arte on, I generally walk around the house and pick up anything that might create an obstacle or cause a problem. The Arte does not like small cords – like phone charging cords – and it does not like the edges of sheets on the ground. So I get the kids to make their beds, and lift everything up off their bedroom floors. I also stack the chairs upside down on the dining table, so the Arte can pick up any crumbs. Finally, I open all the blinds in each room to make sure that there is plenty of light. This appears to help the camera to map the ceiling more precisely. This is more important with the rugs, where the if the robot skids a bit getting over the edge, it will use the ceiling to get it bearings before continuing.

Robotic vacuum cleaners are more like a roller brush with a moderate vacuum, especially when compared to a more powerful manual vacuum cleaner like the Dyson. Nevertheless, the Arte does a fine job. I find that as long as you vacuum regularly – like once a week – the Arte manages to get all the dirt and dust off the floors. However, if you have ground in dirt or a thick layer dust on a carpet you will need to do a manual vacuum first, and then use the robotic vacuum to maintain your pre-cleaned carpets and rugs. It never has any problems cleaning bare floors.

I tend to let the Arte vacuum each room separately and empty the dust collector after each. When the Arte has completed the entire house, I remove the filter and clean it (using the nozzle of our manual vacuum cleaner), I also remove the roller brush and remove any hair or fibres that have been tangled in it. I also wipe the Arte down with a damp cloth, particularly above the camera to make sure that there isn’t lots of dust over the lens window. It seems to pick up a bit of a static charge as it cleans so by the end it has a thin film of dust covering it - especially towards the front - but a quick wipe down is all than is needed before putting it back on its charger.

The Arte is not a replacement for a manual vacuum cleaner; you still need the manual vacuum for skirting boards and any corners or edges that the Arte can’t get into. However, with the Arte doing the bulk of the work, manual vacuuming becomes more of an occasional thing, so there is just a lot less to do. Used regularly, the Arte really does keep our floors spotless. While it has a timer function, with the kids I found that it is better to choose the day and time on an ad-hoc basis – which tends to change from week to week.

As you can probably tell, I am really satisfied with this purchase. I also think that the vision system was worth the additional expense. The Arte is both systematic and fast at cleaning. I can sit down to watch a footy match on Saturday afternoon and by the time the game is over the house has been completely vacuumed. All I do is get up and check on the Arte during add breaks. Cleaning the house really doesn't get any easier! Reliable, fast, effective, clears bumps and thick rugs, intelligent coverage, quiet, adequate battery life, local warranty and spare parts You need to be prepared to clear hazards and obstacles before you start

Do not buy it - highly over valued and priced – Bought direct in Korea with English instructions. No English instructions in the box although printed on the box in big letters ENGLISH. Contacted manufacturer twice and seller - no answer. Downlaoded instructions - very little information. No information about warranty, where to get parts or any contacts at all. Does the job and climbs about 25 mm high but seldom finds home. If you press HOME on remote ROBOT gets angry and bangs repeatedly into the next wall and stops. Stops actually whenever it feels like for no obvious reason. Often the C4 alarm comes on (drive motor overload) There is never anything in the wheels and he will start again with remote for as long as it wants. Has never finished one job and returned to base in one month. They sell here at around $700 -- I have not seen another robot in action - but this one I would not buy again. It has a camera on top and gets stuck under chairs ! Yet they claim it has vision mapping system - well my ROBOT is blind and bangs into everything - even his own charging base

As they do not bother to answer e=mail I am sending a letter to the CEO. picks up a lot of fine dirt and climbs on high carpets and over sills expensive, no support from manufacturer, does not perform as towhat they claim on the website