World’s fastest robotic vacuum can clean your home at speedy 35 mph
A tech-savvy YouTuber created the world’s fastest robotic vacuum that’s quick enough to keep pace on the roads… but is probably a little impractical for the housework.
Alister Laidlaw (Australia) turned a Roomba into a "Vroomba" and got it to hit a top speed of 57 km/h (35 mph) on 8 October 2022.
And he documented the whole thing for his YouTube channel Electrosync, which has over 50,000 subscribers.
Alister built his record-breaking vacuum out of a regular old Roomba by adding in some high-performance electronics and RC gear so he could drive it like a remote-controlled car.
After stumbling across some YouTube videos he says claimed to show the world’s fastest Roomba but didn’t, Alister set out to make it a reality.
He had four strict design rules to follow; it had to look like a Roomba, use two drive wheels, have one motor per wheel, and it had to suck.
Alister said: “It will be challenging to fit everything inside the cramped Roomba chassis and their form isn’t optimal for aerodynamics or handling.”
He started by removing all the parts from a Roomba and making the chassis bigger so it had room for all the upgrades.
Alister did everything he could to prepare his Vroomba to hit top speeds, even making it some brand new wheels and adding precautionary parts to help combat possible overheating.
After using a 3D printer to add some personalisation, he put it all back together and was ready to push it to its speedy limits.
Unsurprisingly, Alister did run into a few problems along the way, with the Vroomba forcibly ejecting its dust collector during a test spin on the workroom floor.
After noticing the Vroomba kept tipping backwards due to the speed, Alister also added some wheelie protection and a GPS tracker to measure its speed before heading outside to put it to the ultimate test.
The vacuum first hit a speed of 36 km/h (22 mph) but Alister knew he could improve that.
After making some modifications to the tyres, the wheelie protector, and jazzing it up a bit more with some lights, Alister headed back out to the track.
This time, he got his Vroomba up to 49 km/h (30 mph), but not without suffering some damage.
He headed back to his workshop to get the contraption all fixed up and make a few improvements.
“It was real handful to control,” Alister said about his third speed attempt. “But it was faster after only the first run.”
Alister reached a blistering speed of 52 km/h (32 mph) with his Vroomba on the first run, and went even faster on the second run, clocking in at 57 km/h (35 mph) and setting the record.
Sustaining damage once more, Alister called it a day on his very own Wacky Races… at least for now.
He returned a few months later with a second video, adding many more modifications to his Vroomba, including the kind of spoiler you’d see on a sports car.
After jazzing up his design, Alister attempted to break his speed record, but unfortunately his dreams came to a bit of a crash landing.
His Vroomba smashed into pieces, and one of them even disappeared down a drain.
If you like watching records being broken you should check out our Records Weekly series on YouTube…
Want more? Follow us on Google News and across our social media channels to stay up-to-date with all things Guinness World Records! You can find us on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Snapchat Discover.
Don't forget to check out our videos on YouTube and become part of our group chat by following the Guinness World Records WhatsApp channel.
Still not had enough? Click here to buy our latest book, filled to the brim with stories about our amazing record breakers.