Roomba Vacuum Cleaner
By Tony Cunningham
The Roomba vacuum cleaner is made and sold by the
company iRobot. The Roomba was released in 2002
with updates and new models released in 2003, 2004,
and so on. These days, millions of them have been
sold, making it the most successful and popular
robotic vacuum cleaner thus far.
Acessories
1. Remote control - This allows you to
control the Roomba remotely.
2. Schedular - This allows you to program
your Roomba to clean house on your schedule, even if
you are out. The schedular can also update a pre-2.1
Roomba robot to the 2.1 software.
3. Homebase - This is where the Roomba will
automatically return for recharging.
4. Virtual wall - This is used for keeping
the Roomba out of certain areas.
5. OSMO - This is a dongle that attaches
to the serial port of the Roomba.
Description
The Roomba is a disc, 13 inches in diameter and less
than 4 inches high. A large contact sensing bumper
is mounted on the front half of the unit, with an
infrared sensor located at the top front center. A
carrying handle is fitted at the top of it as well.
Depending on the model Roomba you select, it can
come with one or two infrared transmitter units.
The first and second generation Roomba models
needed to be told the size of the room through the
use of three small buttons, although this is now
no longer required with newer Roomba generations.
The Roomba operates with internal nickel metal
hyrdide batteries and requires being recharged on
a regular basis from a wall plug, although the newer
generations have a home base where they will
automatically find and go to when they need to charge
themselves.
Using the newer generations of Roomba consists of
carrying it wherever you would like to start,
pressing the power button, then pressing either
clean, spot, or max.
Whenever the clean, spot, or max button is pressed,
the Roomba will pause for second or two and then
begin work. The contact bumper on the machine
will detect bumping into walls and furniture, and
the virtual walls will limit the Roomba to the
areas that you desire. There are also 4 infrared
sensors on the bottom that will prevent the Roomba
from falling offer of ledges or down the steps.
Unlike the Electrolux models, the Roomba doesn't
map out the rooms they are cleaning, as they
instead rely on bumping into objects or walls to map
things out. The design is based on MIT technology
that robots should be like insects and equipped
with simple controls mechanisms tuned to their
environments.
After a little bit of time, the Roomba will begin
to sing. If it detects a homebase, it will try to
return to it. At that point, you simply remove
the dust bin from the rear of the robot and empty
it into a trash can.
Keep in mind that the Roomba isn't designed for
deep pile carpet. It is however, low enough to
go under your bed and most other furniture. If
at any time it senses that it has become stuck,
it will no longer sense the floor underneath it,
it will stop and begin to sing until you come and
find it.
If you are tired of vacuuming and simply don't want
to do it anymore, a Roomba vacuum cleaner will be
a great investment. You can sit back and relax, or
go out and do things while the Roomba does all of
the vacuuming for you. There is nothing easier than
having a Roomba around, as it will help to simplify
things like never before.
Author Details:
Tony Cunningham, copywriter for various websites including many article directories, Tony is a complete information junkie writting about household electrical items and gadgets.
Source: Vacuum Cleaners (The A to Z of)
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