(no subject)

[morwen]

I have a Roomba! (a robotic vacuum cleaner)

It has been tested under supervision in all the dry rooms of the flat and it seems to work great, although it can get stuck under the cover of the sofabed.

I am a little sad to discover that it doesn't try to do mental mapping of the rooms it cleans, it just does simple behaviours tweaked for a good probability of 95% coverage. This isn't the future I was promised. (Mind, even 20 years ago watching Tomorrow's World, I was rather cynical about such robotic dreams, knowing what little I did about programming then... Wolfram Alpha is another in a long line of people solving the easy half of a problem and then assuming the difficult half will be just as quick.)

Comments

[hazyjayne.livejournal.com]

Which one did you go for, out of interest?

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

The 560.

[hazyjayne.livejournal.com]

Goodness! That is quite expensive.

Will you come back to us with a review after you have been using it for a little while as to how well it works? I would like to get one but £300+ is a lot of money...

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

I got it from electricshopping.com (http://electricshopping.com) for £260, I think I'd have gone for a cheaper model if I hadn't found that. You could inspect it at my birthday party if you want...

[katsmeat.livejournal.com]

Birthday present? (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hacking-Roomba-ExtremeTech-Tod-Kurt/dp/0470072717/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243897070&sr=8-1)

Go on... void your warrenty.

[thatmakesmemad.livejournal.com]

Well as long as it hasn't been developed by a company owned by Dr Charles Luther in which case it is merely biding it's time until you fall asleep while it's still switched on.

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

I would consider rebelling against its human masters to be a great advance. Remote-control usage by its creators, not so much.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

The Jetsons are coming to mind with their robotic maid.

Oh Brave New World...

[aminorjourney.livejournal.com]

Roombas! woooo!

As someone who has two, here's a few tips:

Keep all cables tidy and away from roomba goodness.

Try and set the roombas to clean either every day or every other day (If you have pets do it every day) and the roomba will reward you with a really clean house.

We wouldn't be without ours and they clean most days... :)