The PC Weenies

We have our own robot. Typing those words feels ever so strange, but thanks to the Roomba 560, we’re Living in The Future ™.

As a kid, I’d always imagined that “in the future” we’d have our very own automaton waiting on us hand and foot. Well, the Roomba isn’t exactly our personal Jeeves, but it is a robot – albeit a very specialized one whose sole function in life is keep our floors and carpets clean.

Prior to buying a Roomba, I did my research. I asked friends who owned one, watched demos both online and in person, spent countless nights reading reviews, and even crowd-sourced feedback from my Twitter Roomba-owning friends. I decided the time was right – it’s 2011 and, by gosh, I needed to own my own robot.

The less glamorous version of the story is that the vacuum cleaner we’ve been using (purchased used in 1998) was in dire need of replacement, thanks to a bad motor bearing.

The Roomba 560 retails for $350, but with discounts you can find one for around $300. We purchased ours at Bed, Bath, and Beyond because of their generous return policy. Inside the box is the Roomba, it’s charging station (with plug), an extra replacement filter, a brush cleaner, two Virtual Walls, a registration card and user manual.

The Roomba unit itself has two rubber treaded wheels (akin to those found in LEGO sets) and a plastic swivel wheel that lets it turn around to change its direction. There is also a sweeper attachment that brings debris towards the Roomba (perfect for corners and other hard to reach surfaces).

Lifting the Roomba out of the box, I initially thought the bottom of the unit was about to fall out from underneath the unit, until I realized that the two main rubberized wheels were on a separate shock absorber system connected to the chassis.

Before first use, we connected our Roomba to its charging station. The Roomba 560 comes with a rechargeable battery. The owner’s manual stated no less than three times that the Roomba needs to be recharged after each use – that a prolonged delay in charging it could potentially damage the battery.

Here’s a video showing the Roomba’s collision and cliff-detecting abilities:

As the video above demonstrates, the Roomba moves in a spiral pattern – moving towards a wall, gently bumping it, turning around and moving in another direction. Its vacuuming pattern appears to be based on its detection of walls and hard surfaces. The Roomba is also immensely useful in hard to reach areas, like underneath the bed. It was a pretty neat feeling to watch the Roomba (which has since been named ‘Arnold’) do its thing. The Roomba does a reasonably good job of covering the entire room’s surface area.

After vacuuming our entire downstairs area (both carpeted and ceramic tile flooring), which included our kitchen, bedroom and living room area, the Roomba returned to its base station for recharging. We inspected the Roomba’s dust / dirt collectors. Both were completely filled; the filtration area was caked with dust.

The contents were disposed of, and I added a shot of compressed air to clean the remaining dust covering the filter. The Roomba owners manual states that it’s important to empty the bins after each use.

My first impressions of the Roomba 560 (so far) have been really good. We haven’t programmed the Roomba, or made use of the virtual walls yet, but my hope is to update this post after we spend a few more days with the unit. Do you own a Roomba? How has it been in your experience? Share your observations below!

-Krishna