RoboDeck patio robot
There are already several useful robots for the household, with vacuum cleaners predominating. These days you can already get them for an affordable price, so that you don't have to get down on your knees for the interim cleaning or for some spilled crumbs. The RoboDeck is a new type of robot that can clean terraces. This robot is not suitable for people who detest plants and have laid down a tiled surface; it is only for outdoor plank flooring. It contains various sensors to prevent the robot from falling into a swimming pool, for example.
The RoboDeck first sweeps the terrace and then takes care of maintenance. It detects, for example, stains or damage and treats your wood. This all sounds good, but many people will drop out of the business model that the maker has devised. The manufacturer expects you to buy $20 worth of detergent cartridges per month. Such a cartridge is good for 46m².
If you consider that you only have to treat your wooden terrace floor once or twice, it will be an expensive joke to bring this robot into your home. However, the manufacturer has an alternative: you can also buy the cartridges separately for $35 each and are ready for up to $70 per year.
RoboDeck works with Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, according to the manufacturer. Whether that is the case is also highly questionable, since HomeKit does not yet offer support for robot vacuum cleaners and therefore also not for a similar cleaning robot. Because whether a robot is sucking or oiling, the principle is the same: you want the robot to be controllable through a room and carry out its work, regardless of whether it goes through a room indoors or across a terrace outside. There are therefore no smart vacuum cleaners that officially support HomeKit.
We therefore do not have a lot of confidence in this new product, especially because it is a relatively expensive product that is offered via a crowdfunding platform. RoboDeck also seems to have no direct link with RoboRock, the smart vacuum cleaners from China that have already built up a good reputation. You run the risk of losing your money, endless delivery times, or eventually missing promised features (such as HomeKit) because the makers couldn't get it done.
If you still want to take the gamble: the Kickstarter campaign will start soon and more information will be known about how much investing in this project will cost.