I’m not a good housekeeper. I won’t even try to deny it. My mum was – and still is – the epitome of what society might call a ‘good housewife’. Fridays were her day off work, and we’d come home from school to a spotless house and the smell of pikelets cooking. My sister inherited this housewife gene. I did not. I often like to remind my partner that I’m not a wife, so technically, I can’t be a housewife.
Part of me wishes I had it in me to keep a shiny clean home and bake fresh banana bread for my family. I love walking into a freshly cleaned kitchen with the smell of baking in the air as much as anyone — I just don’t love being the person doing the scrubbing, vacuuming, or baking.
So when the opportunity arose for our household to welcome a robotic housekeeper in the MOVA P50 Ultra Robot Vacuum, I jumped at the chance. Before this, I could honestly say I’ve vacuumed maybe twice in the past ten years. Somehow, I always managed to avoid the role – whether it was thanks to a paid cleaner, my mum, or a housemate or partner who took it on. Vacuuming just wasn’t my chore.
Until now. In fact, as I type this, I’m vacuuming. Many of us sneak in chores while working from home, but the MOVA P50 Ultra lets me stay seated at my desk while it takes care of the floors.
We had some teething issues when it first arrived – like my daughter deciding it was her new toy to ride on and decorate with crayons – if only there were a robot vacuum that could clean my robot vacuum!
The initial setup also took a little patience, which, admittedly, Brad took care of. The P50 Ultra maps your home through the app, learning floor types – carpet, tile, no-go zones – so it knows when to vacuum, when to mop, and where to avoid dragging damp mop pads. Once that was done, though, it quickly became part of the family.
Being a household with a toddler and now a puppy, our floors are rarely clear. Toys, the daycare bag, shoes, there’s always something in the way. At first, I found myself avoiding turning it on because I didn’t want to “clean for the cleaner.” But then I realised – it’s a robot, and it’s quite literally designed to navigate around the mess we create.
Now, I’ll set it going at any time. If it encounters a handful of pencils tossed on the floor during an earlier tantrum, it simply pivots and works around them. Sometimes I watch it reverse and manoeuvre its way through Elsie’s chaos and feel a bit guilty – then I remember, it’s a robot. It’s not mad at me because I’m making its life difficult!
The only things it needs from me is a charge at night, a refill of its water tank, and the occasional scrub to remove Elsie’s artistic crayon marks. With 19,000Pa suction, mop pads that lift automatically over carpet, and a dock that washes and dries its own mops with 75°C water and hot air, our robot vacuum is the least high-maintenance member of the family, and the most helpful!
It’s truly a dream. And now, I’m just waiting for the next invention – a robot that can clean the bathroom, take out the rubbish, and cook dinner too.
MOVA is a global innovative smart appliance brand that advocates “leading innovation, connecting technology with daily life”. It is dedicated to creating new intelligent living spaces for families worldwide through continuous technological breakthroughs, exploring future home living styles. For more information, please visit au.mova.tech.
The writer of this article received gifted samples from the brand. All opinions expressed are based on the writer’s personal experience.
