Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Vacuuming whilst I Work

As I sit here in my office something amazing is going on in my living room. A robot is vacuuming the carpet for me. All I had to do was charge the iRobot Roomba and tell it to start and off it goes vacuuming, detecting and avoiding obstacles, concentrating more on the dirty bits and even getting under the sofa where my Dyson hasn't been in years.

With 120 minutes of battery life, I'm just leaving it too it. On the first use it needed emptying regularly (partly due to the small container and in part due to how long since the last vacuuming). However, the point is that you use it more regularly to keep on top of things. The results are great.

I still need the Dyson to help me do the sofa and curtains but when it comes to replacement, there's no need to go for the full blow-your-house-down model- a handheld should suffice. The future is here now. I'm only surprised this technology isn't more pervasive throughout the major players... in the same way that no one would have been impressed if I'd started this post with the statement that a machine is washing my clothes in the kitchen. Next up: Ironing (pleeease!)

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2 comments:

luke said...

how well does it cope with nests of wires? Thats the main reason I've never gone for one of these... and oh, how happy a man I would be when a gadget can iron a shirt!

Richard Atkinson said...

Good question Luke. Nests of wires are probably the most difficult thing to deal with. I can say that Roomba won't chew them up, but as it pushes against the resistance it is more inclined to withdraw rather than press on as a human would, safe in the knowledge that this isn't a new born.

My advice is to get the dust buster out for those areas and use the included 'virtual wall' to keep the Roomba away.