Roomba: Suck it up, robot!
I have a little Roomba that has no need for me
And when it does its dirty work I’m not around to see.
The lint, the dust, the hair my doggies shed
It circles round and cleans them up then tucks itself in bed.
There’s nothing like poetry to express one’s love. And it is, indeed, a testament to their affection that guardians of these little robotic vacuum cleaners not only pen rhymes to the Roomba, but give them names like Rumba, Jeffry and BabyBot. How many appliances, after all, have discussion boards and entire Web sites devoted to them?
What is it about these pricey saucer-like machines that warrants such devotion? Let’s start with convenience. I own a Belgian Tervuren, a long-haired breed that drops hair the way some people drop names. I also foster Malinois, a short-haired version of the Terv that you’d think would drop less hair, but you’d be mistaken.
Before getting my Roomba, vacuuming was an obligation honored in the breach. It was easy to ignore the fur bunnies hiding under sofa and chairs. But for 90 minutes each day s
unlight pours through my front windows illuminating every bit of hair and debris active dogs can deposit on a hardwood floor. The afternoon light gave me away. There was no plausible deniability. Daily vacuuming was the only solution and frankly that just doesn’t rank high on a single guy’s priorities.Enter the Roomba. I bought iRobot’s Roomba Scheduler at my local Costco just before Christmas and a better present I’ve never been given. BabyBot, oh yeah, I’ve named it, BabyBot rolls out of its cradle late in the afternoon while we go to the dog park, It zigs and zags across my living room sucking up hair and dander and debris all by itself. The first few times I watched from the sofa, as entranced as a stoned hippie watching a sunrise. But now, when Arrow and I hear BabyBot come to life, we head for the front door and 90 minutes of fetch, down, jump and play.
I was a skeptic, before I bought. Just like you I doubted that a little battery operated toy could actually do work. I read the reviews by people who owned a Roomba, so I was prepared to have it choke on carpets and cords. I expected it would do a so-so job of cleaning, even though most owners praised the Roomba in terms best described as reverential.
After a month of regular use I’ve come to admire BabyBot, er, the Roomba. My little guy (gal?) picks up dog fur in places my Hoover never reached. It scoots under the sofa and under the chairs to clean hair and debris, then criss-crosses the floor in no discernible pattern, sucking up the detritus of the last 48 hours.
Is Roomba perfect? By no means. It’s dirt storage is small and needs to be emptied regularly. In my case that means after every second or third use, depending on whether or not a foster is in residence. The brushes and bushings need regular maintenance. It’s an easy task that takes almost no time if you do it while watching The Dog Whisperer or American Idol. Don’t skip these cleanings as dog hair can get wound so tightly it jams the wheels and can damage the unit.
Roomba doesn’t clean corners well, and you need to keep things like gutted toy bodies off the floor and out of its way. Nor does it eliminate carpet vacuuming with one of the big boys. Their sucking power is way more powerful than BabyBot’s. But the little Roomba has no problem keeping the carpet surface neat.
Stairs pose no hazard since the Roomba’s microprocessor and infrared sensors detect the drop and turn it away. As smart as it is, it does get stuck from time to time, a problem I solved by some minor furniture adjustment.
The Roomba Scheduler I bought at Costco comes with a base charger you should fasten firmly so it doesn’t slide with the unit’s comings and goings. It also comes with a remote control (from which you can “drive” the unit and arrange its cleaning schedule), extra brushes and filters and two infrared fences, which I use to keep it out of the bathroom where the throw rugs tangle it up.
There’s nothing at all complicated about getting it to work and customer service, according to most of the postings I’ve read is superb. If you happen to be a geek, however, the iRobot people offer an interface into the software, which developers have used to do all sorts of things like create a map of a room or control the Roomba from a cell phone.
As for me, I’m happy just to enjoy the afternoon light in my living room. I see the water spots that Arrow’s left from his splashy drinking. I see drool spots here and there. But fur? No fur. BabyBot has swallowed it up and it will get that new bit in a few minutes, once we leave for the dog park.
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