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Floor Vacuum Robot for $200

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the to-lazy-to-stand dept.

abhikhurana writes "MSNBC is running a review of Roomba, supposedly the first intelligent 'floor vac', as in a cross between vacuum cleaner and a robot. I think its especially suited for lazy bums like me. Just let it loose, sitback and enjoy. There is also a video of how it cleans the floors, which requires windows media player (what else?) to watch it. It seems that the robo cleaner can indeed do that job for which it has been designed. A related article on Techreview has slightly more details about how it works. There is also a website exclusively for Roomba."

3 of 353 comments (clear)

  1. Let's go back in time to the 1980's.... by qurob · · Score: 5, Interesting


    Remember? Robots were going to do EVERYTHING in the 70's and 80's.

    They were going to help us! Everything was robot this, robot that.

    Bring us drinks, cut the lawn (solar power!), vaccuum....

    I'm going to go read all my back issues of Popular Science, I'll find a robot lawn mower or two.

  2. Re:Why is it... by mbourgon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It doesn't actually remember the room. It uses a variation on the wandering drunk pattern, but the practical upshot is it should finish in a couple of hours. Part of why it's so cheap - it doesn't have to "learn the room", you just put it down and walk away. From what I've read on it, the price point is paramount... for $200, I'm damn tempted.

    --
    "Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
  3. Re:Have one! Works great! by Zathrus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Less than half an acre, since that's all the robomower is designed for.

    If, however, he bought it a couple years ago I might buy a hundred hours saved.

    Looked at one of the robotic mowers a few months ago, but they only work well if you have a single contiguous area of lawn, with no narrow sections. I have three separate lawn areas, which would require buying two additional power stations and manually moving the robomower between each section. No thanks.