Time-Saving Tech Tools for Every Home

Some things, once spent, can never be recovered. No wonder time is such a precious commodity. If you find yourself constantly bogged down by daily household chores, Inside suggests some gadgets that allow you to be a domestic goddess and still have time to put up your feet.

1. Auto Clean

Once it would have been the stuff of sci-fi dreams to have a robot housekeeper. Today, it is a reality in many homes. With the advent of robotic vacuum cleaners, you can replace manual sweeping with the effortless workings of a machine.

The Samsung PowerBot VR9000 is one such wonder of time-saving technology. Reputed to be 60 times more powerful than the average vacuum cleaner, this handy helper has an in-built navigation system that allows it to move independently throughout the house without getting side-tracked by obstacles. It has 10 individual built-in sensors; and an upward-facing, ceiling-tracking digital camera enables it to map out any room, feeling its way around its furniture and perimeter. Once it has recorded the layout of your home in its database, it goes to work.

The robot’s six Easy Pass wheels of varying sizes allow it to pivot smoothly, roll over most obstacles and transit from carpets to wooden or tiled floors with ease. When something blocks its path, the PowerBot gentle nudges it. So, there is little fear that it will run over small family pets. At about five inches tall, it can just about get under most furniture too.

The PowerBot comes with four cleaning modes. Set on Auto, it vacuums the room till it deems the space clean. Spot Clean lets you cover a five-foot area for limited messes. Max Clean lets you clean the whole house until the battery runs out. If you are so inclined, the PowerBot has a Manual Clean mode. With a remote pointer, you can aim the beam at the spot you want cleaned and the PowerBot will get to it.

The vacuum cleaner also has a cyclone force system that relies on centrifugal force to separate dirt and debris into an outer chamber so the filter will not get clogged. Cleaning an area of 100 sqm takes about 40 minutes. When it is done, the machine returns to the base station to recharge itself. How neat is that!

The next logical step to a robot vacuum cleaner is a robot mop. The iRobot Braava ™ 380t uses both dry and damp disposable or reusable microfiber cleaning cloths to wipe your floors. The special Reservoir Cleaning Pad dispenses liquid throughout the cleaning cycle to keep the cloth damp. A single cleaning cycle can damp mop a 32 sqm room.

This mopbot can last up to two and a half hours on a single charge. When it is done cleaning, it returns to its starting point and automatically powers down.

2. Bread on Demand

Imagine waking up to the smell of freshly baked bread. That is an experience a bread machine can promise. Bread is notoriously difficult to make, as much of the success relies on how the ingredients are mixed and kneaded. With a bread machine, you can skip all the manual labour. Simply toss in the right ingredients, flip a switch, and wait.

The Panasonic SD-P104 Bread Maker is a godsend. It comes with a temperature sensor that automatically adjusts temperature conditions at each part of the bread-making process, from the kneading to the rising and baking. There are 13 menus to choose from which allow you to bake a variety of breads, as well as pizza bases, dumpling skins and cakes. A crust colour control lets you select how brown you want the crust of your loaf to be. There is a separate compartment for you to load in other ingredients like nuts, raisins and yeast. These will be automatically dispensed into your bread and evenly mixed in at the appropriate time. It even has a preset digital timer that so you can have it start work up to 13 hours ahead. For a simple 500g loaf, two hours is all you need from start to finish.

3. Nifty Noodles

Homemade, handmade noodles seem like a luxury few working executives can indulge in. Technology however, makes that possible. The Philips Avance Collection Noodle Maker produces freshly made noodles in just 10 minutes. Its 360-degree extrusion technology allows it to knead and churn out 250g of noodles in no time.

For basic noodles, you only need flour, eggs and water. If you prefer flavoured noodles, you can add different types of vegetable juice. To adjust the texture of the noodles, play around with the kneading time. Various shaping discs let you pick the thickness of your noodles. Technology that is able to reduce a painstaking process to mere minutes is something that should be lauded.

The point of technology is to make life easier and faster. The beauty of these gadgets is that they work without supervision, leaving you with plenty of time to savour life’s finer moments.

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