irobot's roomba: birds, bees & bots

[oregon]

I've vacuumed the regular way since I was old enough to.

Got the irobot roomba model #550 vac bot for the old homestead yesterday. It actually works. Goes about its business collecting dirt, turns itself off if it gets into a jam or full of stuff, and when tired finds its small charging station and docks to refresh its nimhs for 3 hours.

Fun watching it move about. You think that it will never find its way out from under the hope chest but it does.

Felt confident that it would be okay on its own downstairs so went upstairs to work in the office. After a bit I heard something so I went downstairs to find that the roomba had knocked the swiffer out of the corner and was trying to, well, uhhh, ummm, get over it I guess. It was on top of it and rocking back and forth. I might say something about vacing up some of my cialis but I wont. Probably just trying to eliminate the competition thanks to programming from the manufacturer. I wonder how it would react to a Dyson...

It takes some regular cleaning of the modular innards to keep it happy but, you know, its fun to have around. Kind of like a cat or dog. Sometimes its asleep and at other times its banging around.

For cleaning tools, besides the yellow gizmo that came with it, I use a bristle paint brush to sweep dust out of it, small folding sissors to cut hair and thread from the rollers and my HD shopvac to suction the filter and other parts of the roomba.

oregon

 

[oregon]

A few pics:

The vac bot charging:

Thickness pic, with virtual wall units in white and yellow brush cleaner:

The underside of things:

The dust bin pulled out and view into it:

The dust filter, within the dust bin, pulled out for your inspection:

Yes, there are mods, lithium ion battery pacs for example to replace the nimhs. And, there are forums as well.

oregon

 

[oregon]

I registered the roomba online and I should be getting an email for 15% off purchases of accessories/parts. Still waiting for this. Sent email to the mfg asking about ETA of this deal and haven't heard back yet.

I plan to purchase several, probably 4 of each, replacement brushes as they should wear the most. Irobot offers kits of parts, online, with some economies of scale.

Mods, which would void the mfg warranty, might be swapping out the nimhs for lithion ion batteries and proper metal bearings to support the gears. Both are offered by enthusiasts for sale. Down the road probably.

A solar charger would be nice.

My charming wife now wants the floor scrubber bot. I think that is sold at Target.

oregon

 

[oregon]

The dang thing hasn't failed to return to its one charging station even once. 100% success rate. Amazing really given that even I stub my toes and hurt myself once in a while in my own home. This stranger has no problems. Vacs in the dark of night. Much quieter than the regular canister vac.

I haven't programmed it yet. I just hit the "clean" button and off it goes. Really does a great cleaning job. The house looks and smells cleaner. Is there less dust or is it my imagination.

It is more fun for me that I expected. I enjoy the quick and simple cleaning of its modular innards. Nicely done irobot.

oregon

 

[Lit Up]

They'll be graduating from sweeping dust soon enough

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vArdTJfTOzo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvZS16IxC8k

 

[Aluminous]

The dang thing hasn't failed to return to its one charging station even once. 100% success rate. Amazing really given that even I stub my toes and hurt myself once in a while in my own home. This stranger has no problems. Vacs in the dark of night. Much quieter than the regular canister vac.

I haven't programmed it yet. I just hit the "clean" button and off it goes. Really does a great cleaning job. The house looks and smells cleaner. Is there less dust or is it my imagination.

It is more fun for me that I expected. I enjoy the quick and simple cleaning of its modular innards. Nicely done irobot.

oregon

Impressive. How often do you plan to be running it - daily?

 

[oregon]

Impressive. How often do you plan to be running it - daily?

It has since failed to return to the charger under these circumstances: Virtual walls/guides not used and their batteries removed. I found roomba about 8 ft from the charger asleep (apparently it needs some help orienting in the 1500 sf lower floor). Also, it is possible that it was unable to mount the charger, which is on relatively slick linoleum, which allows the charger base tomove about some when the bot attempts to settle itself on the charger pads (where did I put the velcro?). This happened after I bashed the it with a heavy wooden door as I was entering the house from the garage. I gave it quite a hit as I hadn't heard it on the other side of the door. However, it seems to clean OK since.

The two virtual walls/guides are operated by C batteries. I just bot more eneloops (costco) and plan to replace the the standard batteries they come with as soon as they are charged (I'll use the C inserts from the eneloop kit). The guides have no on/off switch. They only operate when the roomba is operating. I'm not sure how much usage I should expect from the batteries so I plan to recharge them weekly and see how that works. You can adjust the size of the virtual wal with a three-position switch with a longer wall costing more battery power.

No usage plan. I used it every day for a few days as a test of its performance. Now it gets used as needed. I live in a forest so pine needles and other debris gets tracked into the home regularly. Probably, using it everyday by setting its program wouldn't be a bad idea if I had a repetitive schedule. It makes sense to have it work while you are away so it can't be inadvertantly injured by my and so it doesn't get under foot.

oregon

 

[Aluminous]

Thanks for the update. Good stuff to know.

You might be interested that in addition to IRobot's Roomba (vacuuming) and Scooba (mopping), there are some companies that make similar robots for lawn-mowing! If I ever get a house with a lawn, I think I'd buy one of those instead of a normal lawnmower. (I think they're usually more expensive than the labor-intensive type of mower, but less expensive than riding mowers.)

 

[oregon]

robots for lawn-mowing!

Here's a solar-hybrid electric one from Scandinavia: http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2008/03/13/automower-the-incredible-lawn-mowing-robot/

http://www.automower.com/

http://www.automower.com/node2042.aspx?_newsid=5365

http://www.speedwaysales.com/product_info.php?products_id=2421&c=11

It uses nimhs. Seems heavy at just over 50# but much lighter than me on a riding mower. I wonder what lions could do for its power/weight ratio?

Gotta look into these. Thanks Aluminous.

oregon

 

[BobVA]

I'm not so sure the Li-Ion mod is such a good idea. First there's the issue of properly charging them (the mods I saw required the battery to be charged separately, making the dock useless) and second I think the weight of the Ni-MH may be necessary for the brushes to work correctly. Just speculation, but post if you decide to try it.

Mine (old second gen) has been on auto-pilot for a year - I got it as a refurb from woot.com. It rolls out of the dock at 1100 on Mon, Wed and Fri and manages to do my whole apartment on one charge. It's gotten into mischief a few times, but nothing serious.

Like you say, sort of a cross between an appliance and a pet. I'm particularly amused by the "backup alarm" when it backs out of the dock.

Regards,
Bob

 

[oregon]

Mine (old second gen) has been on auto-pilot for a year - I got it as a refurb from woot.com. It rolls out of the dock at 1100 on Mon, Wed and Fri and manages to do my whole apartment on one charge. It's gotten into mischief a few times, but nothing serious.

Like you say, sort of a cross between an appliance and a pet. I'm particularly amused by the "backup alarm" when it backs out of the dock.

Regards,
Bob

Congratulations on your success with 2nd generation roomba. It is satisfying to hear a success story for a newby like me.

The backup alarm sounds like my old airhead turnsignal alert (1979 R100T) and like the beeping noise many commercial trucks make when backing. I enjoy the feedback noises from roomba because they indicate all is well. When I don't hear anything then I wonder what is going on. Silence usually means that it has docked to recharge the batteries.

All the best,

oregon

 

[oregon]

I swapped in freshly bot and freshly charged AA eneloops, each within their C-sized shell from the Costco eneloop kits, into the lighthouses (2 guides for the vacuum placed around the house out of the way). And I velcroed the charging base to the floor so that it wouldn't move during docking.

No problems. Roomba, aka Rambo per me (easier to pronounce & remember), cleaned the floors until tired and I found it with the "charge" signal flashing orange in its docking station. Success.

The house looks and smells cleaner. And, I don't feel guilty about not vacuuming more often. Costs less than a maid and no employment tax entanglements.

oregon

 

[oregon]

Mid-February 2009 and Rambo is still going strong. He cleans the floors in this dusty old hacienda without issue. I am happy with the purchase and can vouch for vacuum.

oregon

 

[Cuso]

My wife wants the mopping version, anyone with experience with those?? Shes been wanting one since the day they came out, but we just can't justify the sticker price.....yet.

 

[oregon]

Irobot has a forum you can join and discuss the scooba. http://createforums.irobot.com/irobotcreate/

My research: Water and electricity don't mix well, it won't take itself back to the charge base like Roomba does, you have to use proprietory cleaner or use care to mix you own (see the forum for the formula) and it works pretty darn well otherwise.

I clean my Roomba just about every time it cleans the floor. It is astounding the amount of dirt and flotsom it finds. So it takes regular maintenance to keep it going.

If you want to keep the wife then you...well, you already know.

I bot from Costco so I can take it back anytime I am unhappy with it. I don't see the Scooba at Costco but I would want a great return policy from the vendor with any work robot.

oregon

 

[oregon]

DOA update:

17 months into regular and ordinary residential usage rambo died:mecry:.

It appears to be the battery. Scanning the bot forum and working with irobot (phone & email) it was agreed that the battery was no longer holding a charge. I did the charging system reset twice and the result was about one minute of runtime after each reset procedure.

It was out of warranty, 12 month warranty. Irobot offered to send me a replacement batter for 20% off the $90 price tag and free shipping. I didn't take their offer.

I returned rambo to Costco for a refund of $280 (I had the original receipt and box) and purchased another Roomba, more modern version (quieter, more battery capacity, redesigned brushes and dirt trap and filter) for $250. Thank you Costco.

I charged the new rambo overnite and it did a good job on the downstairs. I like the improvements. It is quieter and it looks cooler. It is easy & quick to clean the new rambo with my Home Depot shop vac.

I like a robot in the house (spoiled now). They don't live/last as long as a dog but then neither do they get run over out in the street or bite the mailman.

oregon