Flying mini-robot cleaners win design contest

Design Lab competition challenged students to come up with visions for the home of the future

The winning concept, called “Mab”, is an automated cleaning system consisting of hundreds of flying mini-robots. 

The Mab scans the house, determines the areas to clean and sends the robots flying. The tiny robots clean surfaces by touching them with a drop of water.


Mab scans the house, determines areas to clean and sends the robots flying

Mab's designer, Adrian Perez Zapata from Colombia, said that his design was inspired by nature. He said: "I was in my university gardens when I observed the controlled flight of bees pollinating a flower, and how magical it is to see swarms of bees working together.

"My concept only requires a short initial configuration to function autonomously, so you could arrive home and see a swarm of mini-robots roaming around cleaning independently. This means you could sit back and relax, as you observe with great astonishment the little Mab ‘fairies’ working their magic autonomously."

Stefano Marzano, chief design officer at Electrolux and head of jury, said: "This year’s winning concept renews the idea of looking at the robot, seeing it not as one unit that mimics a person, but instead as something inspired by the magical logic of nature’s collaborative efforts and group intelligence."

The Atomium 3D food printer won second place and the Breathing Wall came third.


The winners: Jeabyun Yeon (Breathing Wall), Adrian Perez (Mab) and Luiza Silva (3D food printer)

The student competition received over 1,700 submissions, from more than 60 countries. People’s Choice Award went to Mab after the design received over 40% of the 4,391 public votes on the Design Lab website.

• Find out more about the other concepts.