Buy Microsoft Office Home & StudentiRobot updates Roomba vacuum line
Robotics company iRobot has announced two new versions of its robot vacuum cleaner, the Roomba. Upgrades include a larger dustbin, the ability to suck up larger objects (like pennies; dog food; and, on occasion, a rat), a "lighthouse" system that controls movement from room to room (in the 560 model), more graceful transitions from hard floors to carpet, and a system that prevents the Roomba from sucking up rug tassles or stray cords.
The Roomba 560
(Credit: iRobot)Household pets will be glad to hear that iRobot has eased up on the force with which Roombas bash into objects. Sensors alert the Roomba that it's approaching an object, and it will actually slow down to soften the blow. Sensors around the body also detect how much dust is being kicked up, so if the Roomba has reached an especially dusty area, it will spend a little extra time there to clean up the mess.
The new Roombas will also be upgradable, so people who get attached to their little robots can rest assured that they'll be able to grow with them. iRobot plans to release firmware upgrades over time and to base new features on the chassis of the 500 series.
CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos recently put the 560 to a serious challenge, cleaning his own house. You can get more details about what the new Roomba can do here. But be sure to check out this video of the intrepid 560 daring to go where, apparently, few vacuums have gone before.
Jennifer Guevin is assistant managing editor of CNET News. She focuses on science and green tech. But she also makes the occasional contribution to CNET's kitchen gadgets blog or writes about the latest Web distraction. Once a week, she takes the mic as host of CNET's Daily News Podcast. E-mail Jennifer.
Custom CRM Software
Regards,
-
by inachu1
May 4, 2009 6:15 AM PDT
- I purchased the revision 5 model same one used in this article and I was a sceptic at first.
-
Like this
Reply to this comment
-
(3 Comments)The manual states average cleaning job takes 25 minutes.
My test the cleaning process took 35 minutes.
Running into cords and trying to suck them up? Yes but it also got out of the rat nest of the wires by reversing out of there and I just placed a small cardboard box to keep it away from it again.
In this test the irobot roomba never got lost and near the end it also found its home charing base all by itself.
The only minor problem it had was with loose carpets that some of us may use as you enter the house.
I reccomend to remove it before you start .
It found the stair case just fine and never fell down.
I was amazed at the amount of dust it picked up that our regular vaccum did not pick up.
The roomba did sense our low hanging curtain as a high dirt area and was habitually trying to clean up against the wall next to the curtain but the curtain was safe and no damage to any wall or furniture.
I reccomend this to anyone who is sick and tired of doing house chores.
My household does not have any pets so I do not know how it would fair in a house with a dog or car with long hair.
I am very happy with this vacuum!