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Miss Cellania
An Adorable Floor Mop
by Miss Cellania - July 6, 2009 - 8:17 AM
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What do you get when you cross a Swifter mop with a Roomba? You get something called Fukitorimushi, which literally means “wipe-up bug”. fukitorimushi_1Produced by Panasonic, this little robot scoots along the floor llike an inchworm, collecting dust and grime on its cloth covering. The cloth itself is called Nanofront, a polyester nanofiber developed by Teijin Ltd. that picks up oil, dust, and grime. Because of these nanofibers, Nanofront has ten times the surface area of ordinary fabric, which makes it really good for wiping up foreign substances.

The Fukitorimushi has an advantage over the Roomba in that it actually looks for dirt with its light sensors. This, along with its Muppetlike appearance, gives the little robot some semblance of a personality. People have fallen in love with their Roombas, so Fukitorimushi is bound to be as much of a toy as it is a floor cleaner. Take a look at the “wipe-up bug” in action.

The Fukitorimushi was shown at the Tokyo Fiber ‘09 Senseware Exhibition where it drew lots of interest. It is not yet available to the public, but that’s only a matter of time. All they’ll have to do is make a call to Sanrio, slap a Hello Kitty logo on it, and Panasonic will have a best seller on its hands.

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Comments (9)

  1. Weird. This kind of reminds me of those robotic vacuums. How technology is growing a mind of it’s own…

    posted by Christina on 7-6-2009 at 9:25 am

  2. It’s a Frakkin’ Cylon!

    posted by Israphael on 7-6-2009 at 11:43 am

  3. More of those are going to be bought for tinkering and experimenting than for actual floor cleaning. Something tells me that Grant Imahara from MythBusters has already placed an advance order for at least a dozen.

    posted by PartiallyDeflected on 7-6-2009 at 1:18 pm

  4. Wipe up big or wipe up bug? I think there is a typo..

    posted by ftssoad on 7-6-2009 at 1:33 pm

  5. Yep, and I made the same one twice… but I only caught it once! Fixed.

    posted by Miss Cellania on 7-6-2009 at 1:41 pm

  6. How do you clean that cleaning cloth? Can you unzip it from the moving parts and throw it in the wash?

    They really need to put eyes on it.

    posted by Amy on 7-6-2009 at 1:59 pm

  7. It’s a Swiffer, not a “swifter.”

    posted by Pam W. on 7-6-2009 at 2:19 pm

  8. WANT.

    posted by DBinNYC on 7-6-2009 at 2:22 pm

  9. A better cute option would be to add eyes and a little pacifier! It reminds of a crawling baby, I want one too!

    posted by Rachel* on 7-6-2009 at 11:30 pm

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