Roomba

Watching a Roomba

In theory the entire reason for getting a Roomba is to let it do the vacuuming and forget about it. In reality I always feel the desire to watch roombas as they do their work. It doesn’t make any sense, because the entire goal of a roomba is that it automates what many people find to be a chore. Vacuuming can be quite boring and quite frustrating, especially during the muddy seasons.

Playing with Cleaning Robots

Roomba have been around for a long time. Every time I have the opportunity to experiment and learn from a roomba robot I do. I tell it to start vacuuming and then I watch as it explores room after room, gets jammed on a chair leg, a drying thing or even under certain toilets. I also watch with frustration as it throws a bit of dirt too far, and drives by it over and over, and doesn’t pick it up.

Playing with a Roomba

While I was cat sitting I spent time playing with a Roomba. Most people set the roomba, and let it clean. I don’t. I watch it and I observe how it works, how it goes from place to place and how it navigates, and gets trapped, and procrastinates in one corner or part of an apartment/studio. Roombas are glamourised but I think they are flawed. Their flaw is that they start from their dock, back and go beep beep beep beep, then they rotate and they start cleaning.