First Tivo, now Roomba.The future looks...cute.
Written: Jan 04 '04
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Pros: Cute, does the job more than adequately, doesn't require much attention.
Cons: Doesn't do liquids, has trouble with thick carpet, Virtual Wall unit requires 2 D batteries.
The Bottom Line: Cute little vacuum cleaner that doesn't need much help and actually does the job better than you think it can.
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| flux73's Full Review: iRobot Roomba 3000 Robotic Vacuum |
I like the way the developers of Roomba think. Take some menial chore that everyone hates to do and make technology to do it for us. That's what every technology applications inventor/developer should be aiming for. A merely cool idea that does nothing becomes useless after a short while.
Roomba was developed by a group of people out of MIT who formed a company called iRobot that develops artificial intelligence systems. My understanding is that the basic development plan of Roomba arose from their work with robotic mine field detectors, and that the Roomba uses a similar programming algorithm to navigate a room. Nice to think that you're not the only person who thinks of your room as a minefield, eh?
The Roomba runs on a single NiMH rechargeable battery and only uses 30 watts of power, which is an order of magnitude less than some vacuum cleaners. And yet, I have had no complaints about its pickup power. The company claims that this is because of it's '3-stage' pickup system that allows stuff to be swept into the vacuum cleaner, thus allowing minimal sucking power and increasing efficacy. For those of you with a science background, think of it as Facilitated Transport. It's not going to pickup a bowling ball like some vacuum cleaner manufacturers like to brag about, but then again, when's the last time you needed to vacuum up a bowling ball?!
When you turn it on, it gives you a cute little chirp to let you know it's on. Then you have to select an "S", "M", or "L" button to let it know the size of your room. It uses this to gauge how far its traveled and determine if it's covered enough of the room to shutdown when its done. As it starts up, it goes around in circles of growing size, until it bumps into a wall or other object. It then tracks the edge of the wall/object until it's hindered again, at which time it turns until it's no longer hindered. I'm not sure how they programmed its algorithm, but it seems like the Roomba actually creates a virtual map of the room which it uses to make sure all of it is covered before it stops. But that's just my guess from what I've watched it do. Yeah, it's so fascinating to watch, that you might not actually save that much time NOT vacuuming. But hey, at least it's entertaining then.
The unit is pretty flat. Even flatter than many upright vacuum cleaners' heads. This means it can get under many couches and beds and collect up all the dust bunnies under there. If you have some dust allergies like I do, this is a major plus. No, it's not HEPA compliant, but add on a HEPA room filter. The Roomba will stir up whatever little dust it doesn't collect into the air and a decent room filter will finish it off. The combination brings a great deal of allergy relief.
The Roomba is smart enough to avoid stairs and ledges. And if it gets hindered in any way, it has a plastic bumper in front that covers 180 degrees of the unit that tells it to go in another direction. The one challenge it has is thick carpeting. It seems to be designed for firmer carpeting or hard floors. Besides that, even if it can handle the thickness of your carpet (it needs to be fair dense carpeting if it's thick), it has trouble if the carpet has some edge where it stops and hardfloor begins (like at a bathroom or kitchen border).
In addition, don't expect to do ZERO work with the Roomba. You need to go around the room and pick up things like electrical cables or tuck in tassels on the edge of rugs. Basically anything that can get tangled up in the rollers of the Roomba.
Also, you do need to empty out the dirt bin everytime you use it because it's not very big.
One minor negative about this product is the virtual room divider. It's a little device included with the Roomba that provides an invisible wall that the Roomba will not pass. I say it's a negative not because of its function. It's because it runs on 2 D batteries. While it does work for a quite a number of vacuum 'sessions', I wish they would've included a rechargeable battery. As far as I know, there are no rechargeable D batteries.
Summary: I paid $140 at the online Bed, Bath, & Beyond store with a coupon I got. For the entertainment value alone, it's worth it. For not actually having to do any vacuuming, it's priceless (apologies to MasterCard).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 140
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Epinions.com ID:
flux73
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Location: Portland, OR
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 9 members
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