The iRobot robotic vacuum promises to shorten your chore list. You may have heard of this tiny robotic device! It cruises the floors while vacuuming up dirt. iRobot presently has 5 models available. At only 4 inches in height, it will easily navigate under most of the furniture in your home. This article will review the iRobot Roomba Scheduler model.
Although this little device does work pretty well overall, you won’t be able to throw away your old vacuum just yet. Oh yeah, you might want to keep your old broom too! The roomba is a smart robot. It will find it’s way around the room, it will recognize if there is a step or ledge ahead and turn itself around before flipping over. The roomba is gentle on your furniture. It won’t slam into anything. You will want to leave the house, or at least the room it’s working in during scheduled cleanings. That is unless you like wearing ear plugs! This baby cranks out about 80 decibals. So it is rather loud, but does work pretty well. It is able to detect areas that contain more dirt. The roomba will focus on that area first, and then move on to the rest of the room. You’ll find the roomba to be a great little assistant for the basic daily dirt we all end up having to sweep or vacuum. However, as neat as it is to have a little robot friend to help with the chores, it won’t quite eliminate the human element just yet.
If you have children and pets in your home, there are bound to be some messes the mighty roomba won’t handle to well. For instance, your robot won’t be able to clean cobwebs out of the corners. Cleaning up sticky or gooey messes will rest on your shoulders. You’ll have to clean the pet hair off the couch and behind the cushions. Roomba will leave a small area uncleaned around furniture legs, and you will want to pick up any cables laying on the floor. If you have any rugs with tassles, you’ll need to tuck them under the rug before starting the next cleaning cycle. You will need to perform some maintenance to keep your robot working well. The roomba has an onboard light that illuminates when the dust collector needs to be emptied. Along with keeping the collector empty, the brushes should be kept clean to ensure good performance. The scheduler model is designed to find it’s way back to the charger after a cleaning cycle. The charger sends out a signal that is picked up by the remote unit via a sensor located on the front side. If the unit is not kept clean, this sensor can get covered with dirt over time, and fail to go back to the charger on it’s own. It’s a good idea to empty the collector, keep the exterior clean, and check the brushes often. With a new unit, you’ll get about an hour’s worth of cleaning on a full charge. Not all models will automatically go back to the charger on their own. All and all, the roomba does a good job on routine cleaning.
The Roomba has a 3 stage cleaning system that includes a spinning side brush for cleaning along walls, 2 counter-rotating brushes for large debris, and a vacuum that picks up dust and dirt. Because of it’s compact design (4 inches high, 13 inches in diameter), this robot can get to places impossible for a conventional upright vacuum. At the end of a cleaning cycle or when low on power the iRobot Roomba Scheduler will return to it’s home base to recharge. The home base and remote unit communicate with an infrared signal system. The roomba unit has an onboard system called AWARE. It features 2 sensors located directly above the 2 brushes which detect the amount of dirt being vacuumed. More focus is spent on the dirtiest areas first. When traveling, the roomba remote unit sends an infrared signal and checks to see if the signal bounces back. If the signal doesn’t come back, the robot will know a step or ledge lies ahead. This prevents roomba from falling down stairs or flipping over. The roomba comes with an infrared receiver, which can be set up as a boundary. This allows the user to control where the device can go.
The iRobot Roomba Scheduler is a great device to own if you hate vacuuming on a daily basis. An awesome little robot it is, but it won’t eliminate the need to have a standard vacuum cleaner and broom. Unless you live in a 1 bedroom apartment, you won’t be able to due all the vacuuming in one charge. It won’t be the most quiet electronic device in your home, but for around $175 to $200, it is well worth it. Set it and forget it, and you’ll come home to clean floors everynight.
