Mint™ Automatic Floor Cleaner Receives CES Innovations 2011 Design and Engineering Award

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Evolution Robotics, Inc., a leading robotics technology company, today announced that the company's Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner has received an International CES Innovations 2011 Design and Engineering Award in the Portable Home Appliances category. Products entered in this program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and journalists to honor outstanding design and engineering in consumer electronics products across 35 categories.

“Mint’s design allows it to seamlessly integrate into the home environment and, with the push of a button, Mint silently and efficiently makes the daily chore of cleaning your floors a thing of the past.”

Mint is a robotic floor cleaning appliance designed exclusively for hard surface floor cleaning. Mint automatically dusts and wet mops hard surface floors using popular disposable electrostatic cleaning cloths and reusable microfiber cloths. Mint adapts to different home environments using a range of sensors and employs advanced navigation technologies to deliver a systematic and thorough floor cleaning.

“We’re honored to have Mint selected to receive this prestigious award,” said Dr. Paolo Pirjanian, CEO of Evolution Robotics. “Mint’s design allows it to seamlessly integrate into the home environment and, with the push of a button, Mint silently and efficiently makes the daily chore of cleaning your floors a thing of the past.”

Additionally, Evolution partnered with world-renowned industrial designer Yves Behar and his team at fuseproject to focus on usability and create a clear departure from the existing masculine and techno looking products in the market.

“Until now, home cleaning technologies frankly looked like sci-fi toys. Our belief is that by focusing on a simple and fail-safe consumer experience fused with a clean-modern aesthetic, we create a familiar and friendly product and brand,” said Yves Behar of fuseproject. “CES’s recognition is a great way to show the perfect marriage between sophisticated technology and considered design.”

Sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)(R), producer of International CES, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, the Innovations Design and Engineering Awards have been recognizing achievements in product design and engineering since 1976.

The Innovations entries are judged based on the following criteria:

• Engineering qualities, based on technical specs and materials used
• Aesthetic and design qualities
• The product's intended use/function and user value
• Unique/novel features that consumers would find attractive
• How the design and innovation of the product compares to other products in the marketplace

Innovations honoree products are featured on www.CESweb.org/Innovations and the Innovations Design and Engineering Showcase will feature honorees by product category in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center during the 2011 CES tradeshow.

This latest recognition from the Consumer Electronics Association adds to Mint’s growing list of awards, including a Popular Mechanics’ Editor’s Choice award for best new product at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the IDEA (International Design Excellence Award) in the “Home Living” category by the Industrial Design Society of America.

To learn more about Mint, visit www.mintcleaner.com or follow us on:

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About Evolution Robotics

Evolution Robotics, Inc. is based in Pasadena, CA, and partners with brand leaders to make their products smarter by providing solutions for vision, autonomous navigation and intelligence. From toys to cell phones and vacuum cleaners to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the company’s technologies have been brought to market through partners which include Sony, Bandai, Sharper Image and AU Phones from KDDI in Japan, representing more than 50 million installations. Evolution Robotics is an operating company of Idealab, a creator and operator of technology businesses. www.evolution.com

Mint is a trademark and NorthStar is a registered trademark of Evolution Robotics, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2011 All rights reserved.