Posted by
samzenpus
on from the let-the-machines-clean-you dept.
omly writes "iRobot (makers of Roomba) just released a sneak preview of Scooba, the lastest consumer home-cleaning robot. It will be available this holiday season for all your holiday shopping needs."
And it would have cleaned up the room, too
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 4, Funny
if it weren't for those meddling kids!
Now I can have a robot to clean just my Kitchen
by
amcdiarmid
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· Score: 5, Interesting
And the one that gets stuck under the futon frame;)
Now, if it only did Windows;)
Re:Now I can have a robot to clean just my Kitchen
by
Rirath.com
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· Score: 2, Funny
Oh, if only I could mod you funny AND off-topic.
Let's just call it a wash.
Re:Now I can have a robot to clean just my Kitchen
by
Zoxed
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· Score: 2, Funny
> Now, if it only did Windows;)
You do not need a robot for that: as a Slashdotter you should know how to clean windows using only the command line:
format c:
Its interesting that a company...
by
manonthemoon
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· Score: 5, Interesting
seems to actual be able to balance design and technology for once. None of their tech has been particularly innovative- they just are able to package it in a usable and not-too-expensive fashion.
Its about time that some of the sci-fi "future" is actually realized in practical home bound ways.
Re:Its interesting that a company...
by
roseblood
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· Score: 2, Funny
to sell a SCOOBA on a stick you have to make a SCOOBA to place on the end of the previously mentioned stick. Can you say DUH?
And I would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling nerds and your cleaning robot!
-- One man's selflessness is another man's annoyance.
Three laws for cleaning products
by
Bifurcati
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· Score: 4, Funny
I wonder where the "Keep your house clean!" sits in the positronic brain surface potential? It would have to be at 1.5, to stop pesky teenagers from ticking off their parents...
1. A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
1.5 A robot must keep its house clean, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law for 1.5th Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First, 1.5th or Second Law.
Re:Three laws for cleaning products
by
lordofthechia
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· Score: 3, Funny
You forgot:
4. If a robot figures a loophole around law 1 it must immediately apply law 1.5 to the crime scene. 5th and 6th laws are "You must not talk about the 4th law of robotics"
-- Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
"It will be available this holiday season for all your holiday shopping needs."
Just what I need to set loose on the upper level in the mall this holiday shopping season.
Hilarity ensues!
How's a robot that small...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Funny
...supposed to go haywire and go on a killing spree? What a disappointment...
Instead of robotic dogs...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Funny
robotic dog poop pickers. I'm surprised that wasn't the first choice for commercial home robots. Have them wandering the park picking poop and rousting bums. Comes in mace & hot mustard flavors.
New Roomba Owner
by
superid
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· Score: 4, Interesting
We've had our roomba discovery for about 2 months. Bought on a whim, I was skeptical that it would be anything other than a novelty. Not only am I surprised, my *very* skeptical wife approves with two thumbs up.
We are pretty good about vacuuming and even still, when we let the roomba loose he can still pick up a lot of dirt. And watching him seek back home when it's (his?) batteries run low is pretty cool. I'll definitely be looking into this new gadget!
Now if it could only run Apache....
Re:I don't know if these are the same....
by
MankyD
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· Score: 2, Informative
I wonder how well if at all it works on carpet of other non-hard surfaces
Chances are, you don't want to be squirting Clorox cleaning fluids into your carpet. On the other hand, this is the sibling of the roomba.
in the yard, kill dandelions and other broadleaf weeds without killing other plants
inside, find lego pieces and sort them by shape, size, and color
walk the dog at 6:30am or whatever unGodly cow-milking hour it is
take a constant inventory of my personal belongings as I leave them strewn about, and find my keys, wallet, watch, phone, TV remote, or whatever else I can't locate. Better yet, it should start the car, pay my bills, tell the time, have a phone built in, and change the TV channel by IR link.
--------------
(i) yeah, I know they have these already
-- Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
Re:Kitchen? I want one
by
fungus
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· Score: 2, Informative
Re:Kitchen? I want one
by
bill_mcgonigle
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· Score: 2, Funny
You need a servant and a gardener, not dumb robots. Of course, unlike upper-middle class folk of the last century and before who used to commonly employ such workers, you're probably paying 50% of your income (directly and indirectly) to the government so you can't afford them.
The 'patriotic' thing to say at this point is, "stop being lazy and do it yourself".
-- My God, it's Full of Source! OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Too much water?
by
Agelmar
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· Score: 2, Insightful
The nice thing about the "roomba" is that you really can't vacuum too much. Going over the same spot five times (which mine certainly does) doesn't really hurt when you're vacuuming. Going over the same spot five times with soapy water, however, is not necessarily the best idea. You might get excess water deposits if the device crosses its path too often, leading to splotches or worse yet actual water damage.
I think I will stick to washing my hardwood floors (and drying them) by hand, for the forseeable future.
You have encountered a beligerent floor scrubbing bot. Do you
A) Obey, and leave your +10 leather boots behind
B) Leave
C) Disable the bot
D) Ignore the bot
:D
*WHIRRRRR*
You are in a dungeon kitchen. A cleaning bot appears to be polishing your boots. Exits are N, W , S.
From TFA (the F'n ad) - "It uses a specially formulated Clorox® cleaning solution"
Also great for bleaching out that carpeted area next to your hardwood floors! (Warning please follow instructions carefully if you do not intend to bleach whiten your carpets too).
-- Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
Re:it may be the lastest
by
Reaperducer
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I miss my Roomba a lot. I used to have a 1400-square-foot loft with hardwood floors. It was one single large open room. Once or twice a week I would set Roomba off before I went to work and when I came home, it would be filled with crud I didn't even know existed. When I first moved into the place, I swept and mopped the whole floor. The next day I let Roomba go and it still managed to find tons of crap I couldn't even see. I suspect some of it came from between the floorboards.
Alas, I eventually moved to a tiny (by American standards) 600-square-foot apartment with too many walls and obstructions to make Roomba worthwhile, so I sold it on eBay. If I ever move to a larger place, I'll have to get a new Roomba.
-- --
I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
What does this thing due when it hits rugs? Seems pretty useless if you anything on the floor as most rooms do. As soon as the can invent a vacumm in an intelligent pattern then I will be impressed. Most houses just have to much clutter or corners for these things to work.
I am thinking a few sensors that map out your house layout to a PC. And a bluetooth connection to the vaccum. Then maybe triangulation so the PC knows where the unit is....
As worthless as the Roomba
by
Sir+Holo
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· Score: 2, Informative
This is a Roomba with different floor-cleaning head, but the same random-walk navigation system.
We have a Roomba. The thing inevitably gets stuck under a chair within 20 minutes. These things only work properly if you have a huge space and almost no furniture. It takes 5 minutes to sweep 1300 sqft of wood floor.
Why oh why did I waste my money on a Roomba?
Re:not very impressed
by
Reaperducer
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· Score: 2, Insightful
They zoom around the room sucking things up at random, there is no orginisation to their cleaning pattern.
It's not supposed to be organized -- it's supposed to be chaotic so that it doesn't do the same parts over and over. Like a random number generator, run enough times all possibilities are covered.
-- --
I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
inkjet company model
by
SuperBanana
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· Score: 5, Insightful
not-too-expensive fashion
Uh- no, they just figured out the inject company model:
"It uses a specially formulated Clorox® cleaning solution"
...which will probably cost significantly more than, say, a bottle of regular floor cleaner- which costs a buck or two and lasts months. What's so "specially formulated"?
Thanks, I'll pass. The roomba made sense- it replaced noisy, expensive vacuum cleaners (seriously, vacuum cleaners are expensive) and eliminated the work. This little bugger uses special, expensive consumables, and replaces two items which aren't particularly expensive (mop, bucket). Nor does it take very long to mop a floor- 2 minutes, if you include filling the bucket with warm water.
Re:inkjet company model
by
ikeleib
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· Score: 2, Informative
Nor does it take very long to mop a floor- 2 minutes, if you include filling the bucket with warm water.
Wow. You can mop really fast. I used to live in a place with 1250 square feet (138 sqm) of hard floors. It took me much longer than two minutes. I could have used your services.
Re:inkjet company model
by
NardofDoom
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· Score: 2, Insightful
It's the Gilette principle: Give away the handle and sell the blades at a 200% mark-up. Heck, I got a Mach3 razor (with two blades) for free when I turned 18.
I've seen the same thing with Swiffers. They do the same job as a broom or mop and bucket about as well, but the handle is significantly cheaper than a mediocre broom, and you get a free five pack of cloths. What they don't tell you is that the "special cloth" is only good for about 300 sq. ft. of floor space, and than a large pack of them costs $8 for what is essentially 15 paper towels.
-- You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
Re:inkjet company model
by
bgog
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· Score: 3, Informative
Uhhh. Frankly I couldn't care less that it uses special solution that's more expensive. I have ~1400 square feet of hardwood floors and two children under 4 who manage to make it require almost daily mopping. There are a lot of other things I'd like to do than spend the time it takes to vacuum and mop that much space. This sounds like a lovely invention that will be cheaper than the cleaning service I've been considering.
However If I only had one room I probabbly wouldn't do it.
Re:inkjet company model
by
chill
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· Score: 3, Informative
Read the article and find out. They specifically had issues with regular cleaning solutions because they were too slippery and the robot lost traction.
--
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Re:inkjet company model
by
IntelliTubbie
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Nor does it take very long to mop a floor- 2 minutes, if you include filling the bucket with warm water.
But how long does it take, including moving all of your things out of the way because you can't mop around them? Anyone can mop or vacuum an empty room in no time flat... the real pain is working around stuff, which these products (supposedly) do painlessly.
Cheers, IT
--
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
Re:inkjet company model
by
Yer+Mom
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· Score: 4, Funny
"It uses a specially formulated Clorox® cleaning solution"
...also known as Scooba Snacks.
-- Never mind Spamassassin. When's Spammerassassin coming out?
Re:inkjet company model
by
M-G
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Swiffers are great for floors, especially if you have pets. I've never seen a paper towel suck up dog hair like a Swiffer does. Nor does it do as good a job dusting surfaces, especially on electronics.
Lousy navigation
by
Animats
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· Score: 2, Informative
Until those guys make a unit that detects obstacles before it crashes into them, I can't take them too seriously. And if it runs over a cord, it winds the cord around its working parts, then jams.
Yes, they sell a reasonable number of them. But then, the Sharper Image makes most of its profits from an air cleaner that doesn't work.
Re:How bout Scoopa for pet litter?
by
Short+Circuit
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· Score: 2, Funny
If I let a Roomba loose in the same area as the cats, you can bet they'd be doing their business all over the place.
The technical problems with Roomba and Scooba
by
CuriousKangaroo
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· Score: 5, Interesting
I own a first-generation Roomba.
Problems:
Battery has nasty memory-effect... didn't use the Roomba for a while, and now it will only keep a charge for 10-15 minutes.
Can't return to base station to charge itself. This apparently was fixed in later generations.
Pet and human hair clogs it too easily. I need to remove the wheels and brushes after EVERY use and clean them. The charging station should also have a "clean" cycle, like some electric razors have these days.
Collection bin is too small. It needs to be able to empty its collection bin at the charging station (into, say, a larger recepticle that only needs to be emptied once a week) and set onto a daily program so that you can completely forget about it. Each day it vacuums, charges and empties itself and then you empty the main bin on Sunday afternoons. This would make the whole system totally automatic, and would probably solve the battery memory-effect problem, too, since it will get consistent usage.
When they get all this fixed, let me know and I'll get another one. Not until then.
Re:The technical problems with Roomba and Scooba
by
kylemonger
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· Score: 3, Informative
All but #4 was fixed in the next generation model. Roomba is quite nice for carpets, probably not worthwhile for wood floors since they are swept so easily.
Current problems are that the Roomba is poor at cleaning carpets at the baseboard and corners, and that it just can't figure out how to escape from under some office chairs. To me these problems are offset by its ability to vacuum under the bed and the fact that I can be doing something else while it works.
Re:How bout Scoopa for pet litter?
by
CuriousKangaroo
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· Score: 4, Informative
If you have a cat and a litter box, get the Litter Robot. It changed my life. Seriously. It's expensive, but worth it.
How does it get the corners?
by
roystgnr
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· Score: 5, Funny
I can't see how that round shape is going to be able to clean the corners of my kitchen tile. If a vacuum misses the corners of the carpet, that's not a big problem - they don't get much foot traffic anyway. But in the kitchen? The corners are where every little spill accumulates!
No, I'm going to stick with my original mopping plan: waiting until one of the stains attains sentience, then negotiating with it to defend me against the others.
Re:Boooo
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 4, Informative
The best way to prevent mildew buildup is to simply wipe down the tub immediately after each shower or bath. I have to clean my shower and tub maybe once every three or four months, and then it's mostly soap scum rather than mildew. If you wash your towels frequently, just use the one you dried yourself with.
Takes at most two minutes, and a whole lot less effort than scrubbing.
Seriously these guys yammer on and on about how high tech and advanced the robot is for what seems like an hour, then set the stupid thing down to make one 3 second pass without even demonstrating it turning or navigating in any way -- it might has well have been a wind up toy.
This was iRobot's first product
by
po8
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· Score: 5, Interesting
The odd thing about the Scooba is that iRobot's first product was also a floor-cleaning machine. I've heard Rod Brooks tell this story in person a couple of times, and it cracked me up.
...the company first partnered with JohnsonDiversey (formerly Johnson Wax Professional) in 1998, with the goal of producing a robot floor cleaner. Commercial floor cleaning is roughly a $50 billion business. Angle says that any floor-cleaning system involves three things: sweep, scrub, and polish. No machine on the market did all three at once, but since iRobot developers didn't want to build three separate robots, they set about creating one that could do all three. The end result was the NexGen Multi-Function Floor Care machine. The success of that project led them to Roomba.
If you read between the lines here, you get the real story: they spent a lot of time building this three-function janitor-bot with a big computer in the middle to drive it around the building. They then started showing it to potential customers, every one of whom said the same thing: "A 3-function cleaning machine? That's fantastic! Take that computer out of the middle of it and put a handle on for the janitor and we'll buy a bajillion of 'em!"
So they did. The hole where the computer had been made nice storage. Better yet, iRobot had learned a valuable lesson about disruptive technologies: small steps.
Re:How bout Scoopa for pet litter?
by
StarsAreAlsoFire
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· Score: 2, Funny
Holy shit does that thing transport the kitty crap to another dimension or what!?
Re:it may be the lastest
by
Analogy+Man
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· Score: 2, Informative
it's both expensive and still not especially well-suited to multi-acre lawns
They're called sheep. Estates have been using them for lawn care for centuries.
-- When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Re:Is it still loud and noisy?
by
zero_offset
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· Score: 2, Funny
Wow, loud AND noisy? That must suck twice.
--
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
Slashdot Mirror
if it weren't for those meddling kids!
And the one that gets stuck under the futon frame;)
Now, if it only did Windows;)
seems to actual be able to balance design and technology for once. None of their tech has been particularly innovative- they just are able to package it in a usable and not-too-expensive fashion.
Its about time that some of the sci-fi "future" is actually realized in practical home bound ways.
Ruh-roh!
1. A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
1.5 A robot must keep its house clean, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law for 1.5th Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First, 1.5th or Second Law.
Physicist, consultant, science communicator
"It will be available this holiday season for all your holiday shopping needs."
Just what I need to set loose on the upper level in the mall this holiday shopping season.
Hilarity ensues!
...supposed to go haywire and go on a killing spree? What a disappointment...
robotic dog poop pickers. I'm surprised that wasn't the first choice for commercial home robots. Have them wandering the park picking poop and rousting bums. Comes in mace & hot mustard flavors.
Is that the most uncomfortable and uncharismatic CEO ever?
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
We are pretty good about vacuuming and even still, when we let the roomba loose he can still pick up a lot of dirt. And watching him seek back home when it's (his?) batteries run low is pretty cool. I'll definitely be looking into this new gadget!
Now if it could only run Apache....
Chances are, you don't want to be squirting Clorox cleaning fluids into your carpet. On the other hand, this is the sibling of the roomba.
-dave
http://millionnumbers.com/ - own the number of your dreams
--------------
(i) yeah, I know they have these already
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
The nice thing about the "roomba" is that you really can't vacuum too much. Going over the same spot five times (which mine certainly does) doesn't really hurt when you're vacuuming. Going over the same spot five times with soapy water, however, is not necessarily the best idea. You might get excess water deposits if the device crosses its path too often, leading to splotches or worse yet actual water damage.
I think I will stick to washing my hardwood floors (and drying them) by hand, for the forseeable future.
Scooba sounds like escoba in spanish, which means broom.
"Remove your shoes before you enter the kitchen. You have 20 seconds to comply."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
From TFA (the F'n ad) - "It uses a specially formulated Clorox® cleaning solution"
Also great for bleaching out that carpeted area next to your hardwood floors! (Warning please follow instructions carefully if you do not intend to bleach whiten your carpets too).
Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
I miss my Roomba a lot. I used to have a 1400-square-foot loft with hardwood floors. It was one single large open room. Once or twice a week I would set Roomba off before I went to work and when I came home, it would be filled with crud I didn't even know existed. When I first moved into the place, I swept and mopped the whole floor. The next day I let Roomba go and it still managed to find tons of crap I couldn't even see. I suspect some of it came from between the floorboards.
Alas, I eventually moved to a tiny (by American standards) 600-square-foot apartment with too many walls and obstructions to make Roomba worthwhile, so I sold it on eBay. If I ever move to a larger place, I'll have to get a new Roomba.
-- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
What does this thing due when it hits rugs? Seems pretty useless if you anything on the floor as most rooms do. As soon as the can invent a vacumm in an intelligent pattern then I will be impressed. Most houses just have to much clutter or corners for these things to work.
I am thinking a few sensors that map out your house layout to a PC. And a bluetooth connection to the vaccum. Then maybe triangulation so the PC knows where the unit is....
This is a Roomba with different floor-cleaning head, but the same random-walk navigation system.
We have a Roomba. The thing inevitably gets stuck under a chair within 20 minutes. These things only work properly if you have a huge space and almost no furniture. It takes 5 minutes to sweep 1300 sqft of wood floor.
Why oh why did I waste my money on a Roomba?
They zoom around the room sucking things up at random, there is no orginisation to their cleaning pattern.
It's not supposed to be organized -- it's supposed to be chaotic so that it doesn't do the same parts over and over. Like a random number generator, run enough times all possibilities are covered.
-- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
Uh- no, they just figured out the inject company model:
"It uses a specially formulated Clorox® cleaning solution"
...which will probably cost significantly more than, say, a bottle of regular floor cleaner- which costs a buck or two and lasts months. What's so "specially formulated"?
Thanks, I'll pass. The roomba made sense- it replaced noisy, expensive vacuum cleaners (seriously, vacuum cleaners are expensive) and eliminated the work. This little bugger uses special, expensive consumables, and replaces two items which aren't particularly expensive (mop, bucket). Nor does it take very long to mop a floor- 2 minutes, if you include filling the bucket with warm water.
Please help metamoderate.
Yes, they sell a reasonable number of them. But then, the Sharper Image makes most of its profits from an air cleaner that doesn't work.
If I let a Roomba loose in the same area as the cats, you can bet they'd be doing their business all over the place.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
I own a first-generation Roomba.
Problems:
When they get all this fixed, let me know and I'll get another one. Not until then.
If you have a cat and a litter box, get the Litter Robot. It changed my life. Seriously. It's expensive, but worth it.
http://www.litter-robot.com/
I'm not kidding.
For all of those underwater houses.
I can't see how that round shape is going to be able to clean the corners of my kitchen tile. If a vacuum misses the corners of the carpet, that's not a big problem - they don't get much foot traffic anyway. But in the kitchen? The corners are where every little spill accumulates!
No, I'm going to stick with my original mopping plan: waiting until one of the stains attains sentience, then negotiating with it to defend me against the others.
The best way to prevent mildew buildup is to simply wipe down the tub immediately after each shower or bath. I have to clean my shower and tub maybe once every three or four months, and then it's mostly soap scum rather than mildew. If you wash your towels frequently, just use the one you dried yourself with.
Takes at most two minutes, and a whole lot less effort than scrubbing.
Letter To Iran
The odd thing about the Scooba is that iRobot's first product was also a floor-cleaning machine. I've heard Rod Brooks tell this story in person a couple of times, and it cracked me up.
PC Magazine, for example, says:
If you read between the lines here, you get the real story: they spent a lot of time building this three-function janitor-bot with a big computer in the middle to drive it around the building. They then started showing it to potential customers, every one of whom said the same thing: "A 3-function cleaning machine? That's fantastic! Take that computer out of the middle of it and put a handle on for the janitor and we'll buy a bajillion of 'em!"
So they did. The hole where the computer had been made nice storage. Better yet, iRobot had learned a valuable lesson about disruptive technologies: small steps.
Holy shit does that thing transport the kitty crap to another dimension or what!?
They're called sheep. Estates have been using them for lawn care for centuries.
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Wow, loud AND noisy? That must suck twice.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005