Bad Roomba!!!

I bought a Roomba this week.

It's a $200 robotic vacuum cleaner made by a company named iRobot (wonder if Asimov's
estate gets any fee from that). Works pretty well at finding its way around the room,
though the first time we ran it, it bumped into a picture leaned up against the wall.
The second time it bumped against the wall, the picture fell, and landed on Roomba.
Roomba got stuck, and shut off.

After that, Roomba got scared and went and hid under out bed at the other end of the
house.

Review: Well, two sessions does not a good product make, but if you're willing to
sweep the pizza boxes and cans to the side, it does a pretty good job, and it's fairly
amusing to watch. You do have to hook it up to a charger (somewhat a bummer), but
since you have to empty the container fairly often anyway, making that purely automatic
wouldn't help much. A pretty sophisticated device.

If I'm going to keep anthropomorphizing the thing, it really needs a better name.
If you have suggestions, let me know.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 19, 2003
    How about Mr. Clean? You could even glue an earring on one side.

  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2003
    I have been meaning to purchase that vacuum cleaner, but I was wondering if it was loud?

  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2003
    It's not quiet, but it's not as loud as most vacuum cleaners. It seems to be in the "dustbuster" arena of loudness.

  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2003
    How about Rosie from the Jetsons? Or is that going to run into gender stereotype issues...

  • Anonymous
    June 20, 2003
    How 'bout Sebastian, after Sebastian Cabot, the butler on the old tv show "Family Affari".

  • Anonymous
    June 21, 2003
    CLR? (as in, garbage collection?)I suppose depending on your type of carpet it's also providing thread management.

  • Anonymous
    June 22, 2003
    Get the fast charger. Being able to charge it up in an hour and a half means you can use it a few times a day, which makes it much more useful (to me anyway).

  • Anonymous
    June 22, 2003
    How about using old fashioned names like Herbert, Gertrude, Winifred, Albert (remember the butler from Batman?), etc.?

  • Anonymous
    June 25, 2003
    It seems to me that it should, when done, get itself to a place where it can unload itself, and then jump back in the charger. Houses should be redesigned to do their fair share in helping intelligent products help end users.

  • Anonymous
    June 27, 2003
    iSuck just couldn't stop myself ;)

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2004
    My sister-in-law bought 2 of these Roomba Pro Elite's and they seem to be doing a great job. I find them to be very quiet and they do the job very well. I myself just bought one but have not received it yet....I will return with my assessment.........

  • Anonymous
    July 19, 2004
    If I get one, I'm naming it Sunny after the robot in the new movie, I-Robot.

    Can anyone tell me how often one has to empty it and whether it's easy to do? Also, do you have the original Roomba, or the newer ones that have bigger capacity? Or one of the new ones that docks itself to recharge. Sounds pretty awesome. Also, how about pets? Anyone have any issues? My black lab loves our Shark vacuum and tries to get it. I'm worried that she'll corner it, which is ironic because I only need it for taking care of her shedding!
    Now if only they'd invent one that would dock and recharge while emptying itself into a bigger container. That would be awesome.

  • Anonymous
    June 22, 2008
    As many of you know, we have lived with a Roomba for a few years. He's been a faithful servent, though

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