Dyson's got Balls

Dyson, purveyor of the world’s most popular vacuum cleaners, and for the next few weeks at least, sponsor of this very blog, has unveiled what it’s billing as the biggest change to cleaner technology since it released a ground-breaking bagless system over a decade ago.

Cue fanfare for The Ball (so that’s what that pong games on this site were all about), Dyson’s latest innovation which is apparently easier to steer thanks to a ball which has a pivot point between the body of the machine and the head. This means the cleaner maintains in constant contact with the floor even when steering sharply around furniture.

Instead of having to pull the cleaner back and start again to change direction, vacuumers can turn it with the flick of a wrist, changing direction at will. It’s a bit like power steering.

According to Dyson the innovation will speed up cleaning times by as much as 30%. The Ball, or DC15 to give its full moniker, goes on sale in the UK tomorrow and is the result of three years of work by 350 scientists and engineers at Dyson’s research and development centre in Wiltshire.

Not unsurprisingly Dyson has positioned the Ball cleaners at the very top of its range. The UK models will retail for between £320-£350, and, similar to other Dyson cleaners will be available in standard, animal and allergy versions.

At the press conference James Dyson hinted that the next cleaner to emerge from its R and D centre could well be a robot vacuum model. It has been a long time coming as the robot was first unveiled over four years ago. More on The Ball here.