Allison interviews Josè Vailès about their solar-powered robotic pool cleaner called WYBOT.
The WYBOT pool cleaner has no cables or hoses attached. It cleans the pool autonomously using battery power, and when it needs more power, it automatically goes to a docking station at the side of the pool.
The docking station has a small solar panel on the pool deck that recharges the WYBOT’s battery. After receiving a full recharge, WYBOT automatically detaches from the docking station and continues on with its pool cleaning function. This is similar to how a Roomba vacuum works in the home.
The currently available WYBOT S2 requires the user to clean debris from the unit occasionally, while the soon-to-be-released S3 cleans debris automatically when the unit attaches to the docking station.
The interview setting is the Showstoppers show floor at the Bellagio Hotel.
Learn more at https://wybotpool.com/
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Transcript of Interview:
Allison: Both of our kids have pools, and they’ve got pool cleaners that seem to kind of wander around by themselves and do some pool cleaning, but apparently WYBOT has a different solution, and I’m talking to Josè Vailès.
Josè Vailès: Yeah, so we have different solutions overall. We’ve been in the market for 20 years, just doing pool cleaners. Now, two years ago, we introduced our own brand, which is WYBOT, but we have great solutions that we’re introducing at CES now. One of the solutions is here, which is a self-docking charging station inside the water robot, charged by a solar panel.
Allison: Oh, hang on. I’m looking at a video here, and it doesn’t appear to have any kind of a cable or hose.
Josè Vailès: Correct. They’re all battery operated, self-contained, and the good thing is that they charge inside the pool, go out and clean, and when they need more battery, they come back and recharge, and that’s all by a solar panel.
Allison: So it’s like an indoor vacuum that goes off and it charges?
Josè Vailès: Basically, you call it right. It’s like the Roomba of the pool cleanings.
Allison: So where does all the junk it picks up go, all the leaves and bees and stuff?
Josè Vailès: So in this model, it stays in the robot in the bag. You open a compartment in the bag and pull the filter, and you clean it, but let me move you to that side, and you’re going to see the robot that has similar features, but now all the dirt inside the robot it empties itself outside of the pool.
Allison: You said this is solar-powered?
Josè Vailès: Yes.
Allison: I’ve got my hand on a solar panel up here, and you’re saying it self-docks into this and empties its own bin and recharges itself?
Josè Vailès: That is correct.
Allison: Wow, that’s pretty cool. The one thing I hate about being in the kids’ pools is that big cable and hose. We make a game of it. We make it into a monster as one does, but I’d really prefer not to swim around.
Josè Vailès: Sure. And that’s what we did. We started with robots with batteries in 2018, and we were the first ones to introduce one, but that’s part of history because cables are no longer a part of the robot pool cleaning solution.
Allison: It should not be a thing. So this is called the WYBOT S3, and is this available yet?
Josè Vailès: It will be available in Q2, and the price point is about $3,000.
Allison: All right. Well, this is fantastic. And if they wanted to learn more about this, they would go to?
Josè Vailès: The www.wybotpool.com.
Allison: And that’s W-Y-B-O-T-pool.com. Very good. Thank you very much, Josè.
Josè Vailès: Thank you so much. Thank you for your time.