Wed 24 Oct 2007
A company called iRobot manufactures a Vacuum Cleaner called Roomba. This machine was first introduced in 2002 and they got the newer models every year. Until now millions of Roomba Vacuum Cleaners have been sold to become the most popular robotic vacuum cleaner.
The Roomba Vacuum cleaner comes with the following accessories:
1) Remote control: Allows to control the machine remotely.
2) Scheduler: You can program the machine to clean the house as per your set schedule. The scheduler can update a pre 2.1 Roomba robot to the 2.1 Software.
3) Home Base: The place where the Roomba automatically rests for next use and recharging.
4) Virtual Wall: To keep Roomba to get out of the open doors and other certain areas.
5) OSMO: Dongle that attaches the serial port to the Roomba.
Basically, Roomba is a disc which is just about 12 to 15 inches in diameter and less than 4 inches high. The Roomba is attached with the transmitter units based on the model you choose. IT runs on the infrared sensor which is mounted on the top front center. The earlier models of Roomba need to be told the size of the room with the help of small buttons, although the newer models do not require the same.
The newer model Roomba has a home base where it goes and recharges automatically. They detect when it needs to recharge and automatically reach the home base. The earlier models operated on with internal nickel metal and batteries which needed recharge. The new models of Roomba can be carried anywhere and can be started with the start button and then pressing clean, spot or max buttons for it to start cleaning.
When the spot, clean or max button is pressed the Roomba pauses for a second and starts its work. The bumpers can detect bumping in the walls and furniture and the virtual walls will limit the Roomba within the area. The four infrared sensors at the bottom help the Roomba from falling down the steps or off the ledge.
Roomba does not map the rooms they are asked to clean instead the bumpers help them out unlike the Electrolux machine which maps the room before hand. The design of Roomba is based on MIT technology which believes that the robots should be like insects and can be operated with simple controls.
The Roomba when filled with the dust will start singing and will try to return to its home base. At that point simply remove the dust bin from the back of the robot and empty it.
Roomba is not designed to clean deep pile carpets, however it can go under the bed and almost all the furniture’s in the room. The Roomba if stuck starts its singing until you find it and rescue it.
If you want to buy a vacuum cleaner you must opt for the Roomba vacuum cleaner which can do all the cleaning for you without you being there. It is the easiest way to keep the house clean.