Floor Vacuum Robot for $200 367
abhikhurana writes "MSNBC is running a review of Roomba,
supposedly the first intelligent 'floor vac', as in a cross between vacuum
cleaner and a robot. I think its especially suited for lazy bums like me. Just
let it loose, sitback and enjoy. There is also a video of how it cleans the
floors, which requires windows media player (what else?) to watch it. It seems
that the robo cleaner can indeed do that job for which it has been designed. A
related article on
Techreview has slightly more details
about how it works. There is also a website exclusively for
Roomba."
Have one! Works great! (Score:5, Informative)
I read a review of the roomba (Score:5, Informative)
in a local paper [newsday.com]. It said that the Roomba couldn't completely replace your standard vacumm. It doesn't do stairs, and it has no attachments for things like furniture upholstery, etc. The article basically said it was good if you lived in a small place such as an apartment or didn't have kids, but if you need to do heavy duty cleaning, the 'bot wasn't gonna repalce your standard vac.
Re:What about the corners? (Score:3, Informative)
I had the opportunity to listen to an explanation of a similar product made by a competitor.
As you suggest, the robot does have a hard time reaching corners. However, when compared to a human operator, it was found that most people miss large patches when they do their vacuuming. It is just hard to remember exactly what areas have been covered (that and the constant urge of doing something more interesting). All in all, it was found that the robot covered a larger fraction of the floor, even if it did not reach all the corners.
Tor
more realistic reviews at epinions (Score:1, Informative)
This is Rodney Brooks' company. (Score:5, Informative)
For those robot geeks among us who did NOT know, this is Rodney Brooks' company.
Rodney A. Brooks is Director of the 230 person MIT [mit.edu] Artificial Intelligence Laboratory [slashdot.org], and is the Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science. He is also Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of iRobot Corp (Roomba) [irobot.com]
He received degrees in pure mathematics from the Flinders University of South Australia and the Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1981.
This guy is to robot-geeks what RMS is to Open-Source.
Who made it (Score:2, Informative)
Similar robot from ElectroLux (Score:4, Informative)
Trilobite is about 12000 DKK however, which is 1500 EUR.
Here's the Danish website [electrolux.dk] with Flash demonstration and some information in English [electrolux.se] too.
Re:Forgot about robot cartoons (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why is it... (Score:5, Informative)
Gee, I wonder where I read about Roomba before... (Score:2, Informative)
We have one of these at work (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Have one! Works great! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Except the batteries don't last long enough (Score:3, Informative)
They had one of these on demo at Brookstone in the local mall, and it made a hell of a racket.
It sounded like a combo between a cheap motorized plastic toy and a hair dryer. I really hope for their sake the one I saw was busted somehow.
The Dyson DC06 has been doing this for years. (Score:2, Informative)
Check it out [dyson.co.uk] If you are looking for the grooviest vacuum cleaners out there, get a Dyson. Expensive, but worth it.
Just bought one... (Score:5, Informative)
It manuevers around and under everything that is over 6" high. So, it can deal with coffee tables, chairs, beds, etc. It detects stairs and avoids them. It comes with a virtual wall unit (you can buy more), that sends out a signal the roomba won't cross. When I first got it, I put it is my main room. It has a TV, a large L shaped couch, and 2 litter boxes. The room is 20x10. I eat in front of the tv, so you can imagine all that crap. I ran it in there, and I was amazed at all the stuff if picked up.
There are a few caveats, however. Battery life. You can only do "3 medium size rooms". My carpet is pretty thick, however. It is closer to 2 rooms. Plus, the time to charge the battery is 12 hours. You can buy spare batteries and a "quick charger", however, they are $60 bucks apiece. It is designed to do one room at a time, so you just can't put it up on the second floor and let it do everything. You have to put it into a room, close the door, and let it rip. It is not designed as a spot cleaner. If you have one really messy part of the room, you are better off getting your regular vacuum and vacumming that part of the room and then putting the roomba to work. The dirt collector is pretty small, so you have to empty it out after every room. Also, because of all the cat hair, I spend a lot of time cleaning the brushes and making sure the machine is clean. Unfortunately, it does not map out the room, so it may go over some areas that are not as high traffic as others, due to the algorithm that is uses.
My girlfriend thought I was nuts for buying it. However, for $200 bucks, (the price a of a decent vacuum) it is pretty cool. Now, only if it would travel stairs, do multiple rooms, have a larger dirt container, and plug itself back in, it would be near perfect
I've had it for a month (Score:1, Informative)
1. The one I have will run about 90 minutes or so on a combination carpet/tile floor.
2. It follows both the walls, doors, and its "virtual walls" quite well.
3. It makes "Carpet circles" all over the carpet. Mel Gibson will be making a movie about this some time I am sure.
4. Amazingly it does a pretty good job of getting dirt and cat fur up.
5. It doesn't fall down the stairs, has only gotten hung up 1 time in a month (Barbie's hair).
6. It looks like a horseshoe crab moving around.
It is pretty impressive. What it needs (they have them but not shipped) is an extra charger so that you can charge a battery while it is cleaning.
Re:Why is it... (Score:2, Informative)
Cheers,
Costyn.