In this review we will analyze an interesting vacuum cleaner robot, it is Trifo Max. The robot is equipped with a camera capable of streaming what is happening at home. Will it be better as a robot vacuum cleaner or as an attendant?
Robot vacuums are gods very useful tools that are spreading like wildfire in our homes. With the explosion of the market are also multiplying the companies interested in a slice of the market and for consumers it has become more and more difficult to find a model suited to their needs. And here we come with our reviews. Today we are talking about Trifo Max, a robot vacuum cleaner equipped with a video camera and controllable by which winks at safety.
Main characteristics
- Robot size: diameter 360 mm, height 84 mm
- Charging base dimensions: 140 x 140 x 72 mm
- robot weight: 3,5 kg
- Suction power: 3000 Pa, adjustable
- Dust container capacity: 600 ml
- Battery capacity: 5200 mAh
- Charging time: 180 min
- Autonomy: 120 min
- Noisiness: 70 dB
- Sensors: bumper, RGB video camera, encoder, cliff sensors
Trifo Max review: equipment and build quality
The Trifo Max robot vacuum cleaner arrives packed in a well-organized package. The instruction booklet contains few and simple – perhaps too many – instructions for using the robot. In addition to the quick installation manual, a more in-depth manual would have been useful. However the instructions are also available in Italian and accompanied by images. We have the charging base, the Pet Hair Extractorwhich is a brush that increases the ability to collect animal hair e various cloths for washing on the ground. Installation is simple and completely guided. All you need is a smartphone on which to install the application and follow the instructions. All the steps are well illustrated. Essentially we have to connect our Trifo Max to the home network and that’s it.
The robot is made of plastic, a plastic of not excellent quality to be honest. But acceptable, this is not a premium product after all. The bumper frontare of Trifo Max is very sensitive and thanks to the fairly long and cushioned stroke it should not damage furniture or anything else. The hard rubber bottom cover is an additional guarantee. Lifting the top cover we will see a couple of status LEDs and the USB port which can also be used for charging. From here you can also access the dust tank which is quite large. Is the tank that the HEPA filters are washable and therefore reusable, which is always appreciated. The water tank for washing on the ground, on the other hand, is very small and is positioned under the robot. Both the cloth and the tank are attached with a kind of velcro, a bit annoying to be honest. But as we will see, the whole floor washing part is not the robot’s strong point. The robot is equipped with two-wheel drive in differential configuration and equipped with suspensions. A third passive support wheel is of the castor type.
Trifo Max review: let’s put it to work
So let’s move on to evaluate the work of this robot vacuum cleaner in cleaning. There suction power is more than enough and thanks to the adjustment you can set it according to your needs. Even at 50% of the power, however, it is possible to collect dust, crumbs and hair that can commonly be found on the ground in houses. The noise is proportional to the set power, but still remains more limited than traditional vacuum cleaners. Floor washing is very essential. The cloth is applied to the special support and is soaked in water. This allows to increase the dirt collected, but cannot replace traditional snot. A little bad. The suction capacity is really excellent. Only an automatic emptying station would be missing, but the tank is all in all quite large. We should be able to cover even 100-150 m2 without the need to empty it manually.
Mapping and navigation
Although the suction part is great, the capabilities of this robot are limited by the mapping and navigation technology. Not being equipped with a laser, our Trifo Max is “blind”. It moves in a straight line until it encounters an obstacle that will be detected by the bumpers. At this point the navigation algorithm begins to make the robot make a series of movements as if to “feel” the surroundings and choose the best direction to restart with navigation. Generally the robot tends to follow a serpentine trajectory as far as possibleso as to pass the whole room systematically.
The mapping is based on the measurement of the distance traveled – probably with an optical encorder – and on the bumper readings: the robot creates the map by marking a wall when the bumper detects an obstacle and reconstructs its position by measuring the movement of the wheels. This procedure called “Dead Reckoning” is a technology now in disuse because the accumulation of measurement errors it does not allow a precise location. In fact you see it after a while that the robot moves that its position is not exactly correct. Furthermore, the bumper is not enough to perceive the geometry of objects and angles that are often not mapped correctly. The combination of these two aspects makes the imperfect mapping, even if in broad terms something can be achieved. The map is then reset each time the robot is restarted.
Despite these hardware limitations, it must be said that the software has been thought out pretty well and manages navigation in a decent way. Even if some corners will have a hard time being explored. The algorithm appears to follow the paradigma behavior-based it is said in robotic jargon, which is also now superseded by more desired approaches, but also effective in certain areas.
Some practical tips
Our advice is to remove obstacles such as chairs as much as possible. Maybe before going out you can put the chairs on the table, start the robot and when you return you will find everything clean (or almost). The Trifo Max robot vacuum cleaner manages to run over heavy, large rugs, but not on smaller and lighter ones where it fits easily. These mats – along with all obstacles and small objects – must be removed from the floor to be cleaned to avoid blocking or damaging the robot.
Autonomy is excellent is in line with the declared two hours that in our tests allowed to clean about 100-150 m2, but this depends a lot on the morphology of the rooms. With 50% suction power you can go even a little further. However, after the battery drops below 15%, the robot returns to the charging station automatically.
Trifo Max review: beyond the robot vacuum cleaner
In this section, let’s explore the aspects related to the smart part of this robot vacuum cleaner. The robot communicate with us both through the app and by voice, similar to that of voice assistants – by the way it is compatible with Amazon Alexa. With phrases, the robot will give us messages regarding its status.
All aspects of the robot can be customized from the official application. This it also allows remote operation of Trifo Max, going to activate or pause cleaning or sending it to recharge. You can also move the robot with a virtual joystick. From the application you also access the video surveillance mode through the chamber on the robot. The quality of the video is very low, but enough to realize what is happening in the house. You can also activate the microphone to talk to our family members remotely, a kind of tool for mobile videoconferencing! Among other things, we also have motion detection which allows robots to use the camera to detect suspicious movements. A beautiful thing, but more about a robot vacuum cleaner.
However, the application is essential and simple to use. We will receive notifications whenever something happens, for example if the robot freezes, with a description of what happened. From the app you can also schedule cleaning on certain days and times. The app will also tell us when it’s time to replace parts that wear out like brushes. The smart part of Trifo Max is quite advanced!
Conclusions
We are faced with a robot vacuum cleaner full of contrasts. Trifo Max boasts good cleaning abilityeven if it is strongly limited by navigation and mapping algorithms which are not the most advanced available. The smart functionality are excellent and implemented in a simple and intuitive way. The surveillance function is certainly a nice addition, but it’s not the main target of a robot vacuum. It can be very useful in some cases however. So in summary, if you have a house with regular, simple rooms, then this robot will do just fine. You can use it when you are away from home, so that it does not hinder your movements and monitor activity with your smartphone. If you are looking for something smarter, you will have to focus on more advanced models such as the Trifo Lucy.
The price of 249,99 euro it is certainly limited compared to other solutions and with ours discount code “MT56XRRL” you can take it home at a price of 124,99 euro. But hurry up, why the offer expires on March 9th! That’s all from the electronic section, keep following us!
Points in favor
- Excellent cleaning skills
- Smart features well implemented
- Discreet video surveillance
Points against
- Outdated mapping and localization techniques
- Paradigma behavior-based