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Fri 29 Dec, 2006 01:15 am
Quote:Clean up with a soft shoe shuffle
By Stewart Payne
29/12/2006
For those considering making a New Year's resolution to be tidier around the house, but fearing they may not keep it, help is at hand. Scientists have developed shoes that vacuum clean as you walk.
Ideal, they say, for busy professionals who have no time for housework. Sadly the product, devised by Electrolux, is some way off being available in the shops. But the company has given it a name, Dustmate.
Prototypes are composed of a rechargeable base containing a vacuum engine and an elastic sock which holds the user's foot in place.
A spokesman said: "As you walk, the base of the shoes collects the dust, without requiring any effort. It is a simple, yet creative cleaning concept."
Source
I'm wondering if these shoes would cause a lot of static electricity.
I have got to get a pair of those! I wonder if they come in red.
This is just the perfect thing since my kids have gotten too old for this:
http://www.apparelsearch.com/Unusual_Clothes/unusual_clothing_baby_mops.htm
I've just found out that "Dustmate" is a concept put forward by Sebastian Alberdi and Gustavo Maggio from the European Design Institute in Barcelona (Spain) and Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina).
They were finalists (12 altogether) in the Electrolux Design Lab 2005 (part of FutureDesignDays® in Stockholm, November 2006).
They didn't get one of the three prices, though.
It's an excellent idea, really. Somebody must have thought about the many times they mopped up a spill by throwing a towel over the mess and using their feet to push it around.
In the short term, if it's too difficult to put a full fledged vacuum on them, they could use those flicky roller things. You know the ones with a small brush and rollers that flick debris upwards to where it gets trapped in a chamber or on a sticky pad? I would be out looking for a pair right now if they were available.
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