Home maintenance is a huge market, and there’s no end of products that cater to homeowners. As technology has improved, home automation products and smart devices have begun emerging. These devices do everything from start an oven to operate home security.
Fortune Business Insights estimates that the home automation market, also called domotics, will grow to $114 billion by 2025. IoT products were heavily represented recently in Techcrunch’s Disrupt 2021 event, but one home maintenance product caught the eye above all others.
RoboDeck’s fully automated wooden deck maintenance and cleaning robot turned a few heads as it participated in TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield. Gal Frenkel, RoboDeck’s Co-Founder and CEO, believes his product brings deck maintenance to the 21st century. How valid is his claim?
Easy Maintenance
The deck maintenance market is estimated at $10 billion, according to RoboDeck. Traditionally, maintaining a deck is an expensive and time-intensive process. Owners have to spray their decks, power wash them, apply sealant, and wait for their decks to dry. All told, this process puts home decks out of commission for at least 5 days or more.
At first glance, RoboDecks’ robot looks like a grown-up version of the Roomba. However, a lot is going on under the hood, according to Frenkel, and this makes RoboDeck technologically superior. For starters, deck cleaning is more complex than vacuuming a floor. Decks have gaps, cliffs, and need regular sealing to ensure they’re in top condition.
RoboDeck’s solution carries out preventive maintenance every few weeks, eliminating the need for costly manual intervention. The robot is equipped with Nvidia GPU processors and relies on neural networks to navigate decks. The company’s patented Gap Sensor detects gaps and cliffs and acts accordingly.
The robot also detects furniture, which makes deck maintenance a breeze for owners. No more getting down on your knees and scrubbing endlessly!
Cost-Effective
RoboDeck plans on selling its robot and sealant cartridges via monthly subscriptions that allow customers to pay-per-use. For instance, customers living in snowy areas will use their robots less and will pay less as well. The result is 50% cost savings annually for homeowners and a superior result to boot. Developing cost-effectiveness was a top priority for RoboDeck’s team, according to Frenkel.
Their solution uses proprietary air-spraying technology that applies a fraction of the spray typical deck maintenance requires. This means preventive maintenance is easy, and lower spray volumes eliminate the need to replace cartridges often. In addition, the robot’s system doesn’t need cleaning or flushing after use.
The spraying system incorporates 2 patents and applies a 20-micron thick layer of stain on decks, compared to the 200 micron thick sprays traditional maintenance uses. The robot itself is 4 inches high and uses disposable cartridges. Thus, it’s easy to maintain, and storage is simple. While RoboDeck cannot transform a weathered or beaten up deck, it can ensure that a deck in decent to good shape continues to remain so.
The spray RoboDeck uses is transparent and doesn’t change the deck’s color, which eliminates another concern for homeowners. The robot automatically ensures the clear protective coat is on at all times and can maintain a deck up to 500 feet long on a single charge and cartridge.
Environmentally-Friendly
Most sprays used when staining decks tend to contain harmful chemicals that damage the environment. RoboDeck’s spray is eco-friendly and is water-based. Frenkel also claims that regular deck maintenance ensures a longer life for deck wood, eliminating the need to replace it with fresh lumber.
He cites experiments the company conducted, indicating the effectiveness of RoboDeck’s solution compared to traditional ones. The result is an environmentally-friendly solution that lasts longer and is power efficient. Homeowners can control their RoboDeck bots through the app and order a brief clean or a full spray of their decks.
The company is currently working on a docking station for larger decks that recharges the robot efficiently. In addition, maintenance scheduling, multi-deck support, and spray level monitoring is simple through the app. Thanks to all of the robot’s systems being housed within, owners don’t need additional tech or infrastructure to get their bots running.
They simply press a button and achieve hassle-free deck maintenance.
Cutting-Edge Technology
RoboDeck’s solution is much more than a novelty bot that cleans surfaces. Thanks to proprietary technology and environmentally-friendly design, RoboDeck’s bot delivers a huge raft of advantages to deck owners. Not only does it deliver cost-effective cleaning, but it also lengthens a deck’s lifespan.
Fully automated deck care technology is here, and RoboDeck’s solution is an exciting one that guarantees a great-looking deck 365 days of the year.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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