First impressions of the Roomba Discovery robotic vacuum

Man, oh man! Our new Roomba Discovery Robot Vacuum just arrived. Yah, I'm that excited about a robot that can vacuum. The Discovery might just be the robot hobbyist's robotic platform of choice (more on that later) but here's the short review, some photos and a video of our new dirt sucking clean-bot.

What is it?

The Roomba Discovery Robotic Vacuum is the 3rd and latest generation of robotic vacuums from iRobot, and it�s practically an entirely new unit, from packaging to performance. (If you want to know more about iRobot, check our interview with Helen Greiner, Chairman and Co-founder of iRobot, Corp.) It�s one of the few devices that does exactly what you�d expect�vacuum robotically�and it does it surprisingly well. Nothing will replace that super charged Dyson for thick shag carpeting, but for my pad, the Roomba zips around the hardwood floors every couple days and picks up the bits of dust, solder, wires, parts, and other bits of robots and gear underfoot. It�s kind of like the robot version of the detail that cleans up the battle-wounded after a skirmish.

Bigger, better, faster, cooler�
Compared to the previous generations of the Roomba, the Discovery has 3 times the direct storage, better edge cleaning, longer cleaning times (up to two hours), faster charging (three hours), a new spot clean mode, improved dirt detection for better cleaning, and perhaps the coolest (or at least the most convenient) feature yet, it self docks when it needs to be recharged.

First tests
Our first running tests lead us to believe the AI (as well as most of the Roomba�s hardware) has been substantially updated, for the better, too. It�s even quieter than the past Roombas.

Here�s a video (Windows Media) of the auto-docking in action. It�s bizarre that it�s worked each time without a hitch, unlike the Aibo, which often seems to miss its charging station.

Cleaning
It did a great job in a house with hardwood floors, an organic cat + dog and a dozen or so robots. In corners it has a brush that whips in dirt (for the folks who asked).



Accessories
The Discovery comes with two virtual walls to stop it from going in to other places it shouldn�t, like the robot room (can�t have the Roomba witness it�s Franken-vac fate quite yet!). On a side note, I�m pretty sure you can make your own virtual walls, once I tinker around a bit we�ll post a How-To on it.

Robot vacuum pr0n gallery
Here are some photos of the Discovery Robotic Vacuum, from unpacking to in-action. I also mounted our hacked camera to take time lapse photos from the view of the Roomba; we�ll cover all that in a future article.

In the last photo, there�s a port. This is big news. We haven�t started poking around with it yet, but we suspect there�s a lot of fun to be had, and when we figure it out, you�ll find it here first. With previous generations of Roomba, we mounted a Tablet PC to the unit, so we�re thinking there could be a lot tighter integration besides the IR control we used before.

[broman78 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

what will be the cost?

[aeo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Got mine from Amazon on the 21st. Such the hella-cool bot! I know just enough about robotics and electronics that this thing confuses me in that it can be waaaay away from it's charger and still make it back to dock accurately on time before the battery dies. It must keep some kind of a history of where it's been and when it saw the charger last to calculate the charger's approximate location in relation to its current position. I sort of assumed it's algorithm was kind of random but even when I think it's going to miss a spot, it eventually wanders across it. Very impressive. Love it.

[Giles @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I'm sure there's an obvious answer, but... how does it manage to vacuum the corners of the room?

[donald @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Hey guys,

Could you, like, fix the formatting of this article and put breaks after the second picture? It is messing up my XML feed in LJ and I am having to use the horizontal scroll bar. the horror!

thanks *air kisses*

[tpp @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

A review on a vacuum cleaner really should mention how well it actually cleans the floors (corners included).

[pt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

"Cleaning
It did a great job in a house with hardwood floors, an organic cat + dog and a dozen or so robots. In corners it has a brush that whips in dirt (for the folks who asked)."

[SuperChuck @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

What kind of job does it do on carpets? Sure, it's not going to suck the pad out from under a shag carpet like a Dyson, but how would it compare to, say, an upright?

[B Skrbec @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I had generation 2 of this device, and thought it was very cool, but my biggest problem with it was that it would absolutely not perform on even the slightest shag or plush carpeting. It'd go for about 5 seconds, and then just stop dead, even on a fully charged battery. So it was limited to hardwood and thin berber. I had hopes it would do my whole house, but no such luck.

The new self docking feature is very cool though.

[aeo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Also, it does really well around legs. It bumps into a leg and then goes completely around it. The little holes on the right side of the front bumper contain what I assume is an IR sensor for wall following, etc. On that same side is a little whip brush that sweeps hair, etc from edges and corners. My carpet is medium pile and I have a long haired cat and a Golden Retriever. It deals with thier tufts fairly nicely although the longer thicker hair from the dog's tail and rear haunches wraps around the brushes on occasion. I just clean the thing after every couple of runs. This happens with my non-AI vacuum as well, btw. It has a Max and a Regular clean mode. Max allows it to clean longer whereas clean is full power to vacuum and brushes. I generally use Max as it works well enough. I like it's Spot clean function that automatically kicks in when it finds a dirty spot. A little blue light comes on and it obsesses on the area until it's clean.

[bill @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

We've had our Discovery for about two weeks. Works as advertised and it's a kick to watch it perform its docking maneuver. Lots of fun stuff like the truck back up sound as it reverses out of its charging station. I was surprised at how sparse the operating manual was. I've had toasters with a thicker booklet.

[Anthony Dalto @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I'm really thinking about buying one of these. How does it handle surface level transitions? I have hardwood in one room and carpet in another - the level difference might be a little over 1/2 inch. Think it can handle that?

[kimster @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I was reselling the original Roomba last year and decided not to keep one for myself. Yes, it does work, but I found it more of a hassle cleaning the robot after it cleaned the room, than just vacuuming the room. Hair and lint kept building up on the rollers which caused it to malfunction so it had to be taken apart several times for a thorough cleaning. The dustbin on the original Roomba was small and had to be emptied on a per-run basis. My friend still has his and likes it for his hardwood floors. I can't really recommended it for shag carpeting though.

[aeo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Anthony, it deals with such a transition in my house from kitchen to dining room. It got stuck once when it transitioned at an angle into the doorjamb between the rooms. When it attempted to rotate CCW, something bad happened and it stopped. This hasn't happened since but it's a potential problem to look for.

Review, thanks for that. It explains how Discovery finds its docking station. Interesting stuff. Not sure how the Roomba could lose the comparison at a site called RoombaReview.com though. ;-)

[foo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Can I just leave the rooma in one room, and have it clean that room, and then venture out and find and clean all the other rooms, returning to base before it runs out of batteries, and then continuing where it left off?

[Paul @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Does it get stuck on the fringe thread tassles at the edge of an area rug like a standard vacuum would?

[Brian Theodore @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Just got my discover today. I have all hardwood floors with 2 large 8x10 area rugs (with items like coffee tables and tables on them so they don't move) and several smaller 2x4 hallway-like rugs. I had to remove all the smaller rugs as it just got stuck with the tassles or the lack of grip they had on the floor. It also didn't too well with a hardood-tile transition where there was about a 2cm gap up. I've also noticed that it seems to get jittery when near its charging dock. It knows enough about it being there not to go that near it or hit it, but will become jerky when near it (say, withing 2-3 ft). Overall, I love my roomba but wanted to add a bit of feedback for potential hickups.

[Curt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Really enjoyed the Roomba article. I just got a Discovery myself, and wrote a compare/contrast piece for my humorous technology column, "Digital Slob." If you'd like to check it out, go to:

http://starbulletin.com/2004/09/12/business/brandao.html

Aloha,
Curt
http://www.digitalslob.com

[Curt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Really enjoyed the Roomba article. I just got a Discovery myself, and wrote a compare/contrast piece for my humorous technology column, "Digital Slob." If you'd like to check it out, go to:

http://starbulletin.com/2004/09/12/business/brandao.html

Aloha,
Curt

http://www.digitalslob.com

[Andy Carvin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I've had my Roomba Discovery SE for about two weeks and love it. Our apartment is mostly hardwood floors, and it does a much better job than our upright vacuum ever did on the hardwood. We've got two cats, so we have the triple issue of cat hair, kibble and kitty litter, which they managed to spread around a lot. The Roomba deals with all three of them quite well, while our upright's rotating brushes would merely kick the kibble and the litter across the floor.

We have a large short-pile carpet in our living room, and the roomba makes the transition onto the carpet just fine. Occasionally, though, when it's been cleaning the hardwood and picking up cat hair, it will leave tuffs of hair stuck to the carpet on its perimeter, but usually manages to pick them up on another pass.

We have two problem surfaces, though: a jute mat under our dining room table, and high-pile bath rug outside the shower. The jute mat sometimes bunches up an inch into the air, and if the Roomba hits these spots, it will either turn around or sometimes get stuck. We try to flatten it as best as possible, but the mat will bounce back to its wavy shape. Once the Roomba is on the mat, it's usually fine. The bath rug is a bigger problem; it's so small and light the roomba just bunches it up or folds it over and gets stuck. So as part of our pre-roomba cleaning ritual, I've had to get in the habit of picking up the bath rug and tossing it in the tub.

I find that I have to clean the roomba after every three or so uses, and it's a minor pain taking out the rotating brush, etc, but compared to using an upright vac on the same schedule, it's a piece of cake and well worth the effort....

ps - I wrote about my Roomba the day after I got it; you can see it on my blog here:

http://edwebproject.org/andy/blog/000618.html

-ac

[Paul @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

If I set the Roomba loose on the first floor of my house and left for work, and it runs out of juice after a few rooms and goes back to its charging station, will it continue along cleaning my house 3 hours later after it gets its needed juice? Or will it just park there until I send it out again? And when I send it out again, will it likely just reclean the same area instead of moving on to the rooms it could not complete?

[Roomba Review @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

We posted up a roundup review of the Roomba Discovery, along with the eVac, the Zoombot and the Roomba Pro Elite.

The Roomba Discovery is by far the best of the bunch.

http://www.roombareview.com/reviews/roundup.shtml

[Jim Laragy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

The Oct. 2004 issue of Popular Science magazine compares five robot vacuum cleaners, including the Roomba Discovery.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/v2/whatsnew/article/0,20967,698840,00.html

[Brenda & Cal @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

"Roombas can only clean 2D; unfortunately, houses [rooms] are 3D."

You still need a regular vacuum to clean drapes, ceilings, steps, under the couch, between the stove & refrigerator {just an e.g.}, other crevices-e.g. couch cushions....we could go on, but it's obviously just a toy to wonder at, no real purpose....yet; perhaps when it can climb walls like a pool cleaner & can automatically stick out some attachment[s] to do the above cleaning needs....better yet, instead of [just] a vacuum, make it an automatic mop/[wet]rug cleaner, it can actually become a viable product, worthy of the commercial showing it being such a great aid to those physically challenged.

[Wendy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

What happens when a Roomba finds a pile of cat
puke or a dead mouse? Can it handle being
thumped on or flipped over by a pet?

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

My new place in FL has all tile floor. I have two cats, and their hair plus normal dust and dirt meant my old vacuum could do nothing for me.

My order for the Discovery came in the mail a day ago, and it's been a godsend. I really couldn't clean this place without one.

Cathair clumps in the corners and tumbles across the floor in wads like tumbleweeds. After a few weeks there is a fine layer of cathair and dust across the entire floor.

This guy takes care of everything. It's perfect. If you put it in a bedroom and close the doors so it can't get out, it will finish and shut down, even if it has power left. That's with the Clean button.

In the main living room I used Clean and it went back to it's station. I've used it about 3 times so far, since I just got it, and it doesn't seem to have a problem finding the base again. I checked the dustbin and it was completely filled with cathair and dust. THIS was what I was waiting for. It just gets everything. I'm just happy to have a clean house again.

I'm kind of a slob.. and this thing got me to clean up the place - since you need to worry about it hooking cords off tables, etc. Lamps, irons, etc. You have to think about what's touching the floor.

But once you do that it's smooth sailing. This morning I took it off the charger and set it in the middle of the living room, and hit Max. We'll see how well it does.. I didn't close any of the bathroom or bedroom doors.

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

It's not designed to handle liquids, so it would probably just smear it around. Dead mouse it would probably just run over. It's pretty heavy, I wouldn't think a pet could turn it over, but who knows. Big dog could, maybe. It's about 5-7 lbs. If one of the buttons on top gets hit it would turn off or pause.

[Eric Laster @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

...then it just spun around in circles in the same spot.

Their tech support did not return emails.
Phone support said to return it, but then wouldn't agree to cover shipping. I decided to return it and will be out the costs of shipping to and fro. I spent about 10x as much time on the phone.

I might add that it did work well during those two minutes!

[Jim @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

We have 2 babies, a dog, and a cat. I was tired of having babies covered in animal fur. I can't get my wife to vacuum every other day, so I replaced her with this robot that doesn't talk and works while I sleep. Excellent!

[Stimpy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I've had my Roomba Discovery for about 5 days now and am fairly impressed with the results. I live in a bundalow with a fairly open floor plan. Mostly carpet with tile in kitchen, bathroom, and entrance. Given the large open area it finds its recharger about 2/3 of the time.

The Roomba handled all surfaces well. It also cleaned a lot better than I was expecting it too. Before I got it I was thinking of it more as a cool gadget. It in now a useful gadget (and still cool!).

Am I the only one though that has noticed that the bulk of the dirt it picks up is not actually vacuumed up but rather swept up? If you look at the bin you will discover that the large area has no connection to the vacuum area. The bristles and rubber sweeper fling dirt into the large holder. The vacuum only is effective between the 2 blue rubber pieces and mostly picks up finer stuff. Taking out the filter you can peer in and see a really tiny fan for suction. This is NOT doing the bulk of the cleaning.

Having said that, it still does a pretty good job at cleaning my floors.

[Andy Carvin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Hi everyone,

For those of you who'd like to see the Roomba in action from the Roomba's perspective, I've just posted a video clip that I made after strapping a digital camera to my Roomba. It's rather large - 20 megs - but it shows what it's like for the Roomba to careen off walls, follow a curve around furniture, even manouver around my cat.

You can find it online here:

http://www.andycarvin.com/000639.html

thanks,
ac

[Triki @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Got a Roomba Sage (the $199 model - same as Discovery but no docking station) from HSN about a month ago and was actually quite surprised at how good a job it did cleaning up the dog's hair and getting underneath objects like night tables and beds. While the dust bin is much larger than previous models, I still found myself having to clean the unit after each vacumming to get the hair out of the brushes - in particular, the hair wound around the ends of the rollers and seemed to jam up the rollers. I guess the extra cleaning is a trade-off compared to the labor saved vs. a regular vacuum.

I had read reviews of previous models and how they often crashed "electronically". Well, after running this model 6 or 7 times - CRASH!! The charger did not fully charge the unit on the last try and it cleaned for about an hour on that charge before dying completely. No BEEPS - no lights - no NOTHING!! I had hoped Roomba had solved this particular problem - WRONG!!

Probably just me but for $200, it oughta last a bit more than two weeks!
(HSN refunded promptly)

Oh well...back to the ol' Electrolux :(

(and to answer a couple of questions above...)
*no, the Discovery does not automatically restart cleaning after charging in the docking station (Roomba decided that was not a good idea)
*my vacuum transitioned easily between tile and medium pile carpet.

[Colin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

We have the original Roomba and can't wait to get hold of the new Discovery but I have not seen it advertised here in the UK yet. We have two hairy boarder collies and three cats and it cleans great but you have to clean the Roomba after every use just to get the pet hairs out but that takes less time than getting out the Dyson and plugging it in! Also if you miss a day or two then you have to quickly run the Dyson over the ground floor.
The only gripe we have is the charging and battery life/charge, I know a fast charger is available but I have not seen one in the UK for our 240 volts mains supply, we can get fast chargers for NiCD and NiMH battery power packs but can anyone tell me the best fast charger to go for (I can easily get chargers - 1.7 or 3.0Ah or 5.0Ah all for 4-10 Cells). I notice the Discovery has a more powerful battery, does any one know if it is compatable with our Roomba and if so where it could be purchased (at a reasonable price) for deliver to the UK?

[Valerie W @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I saw this producted compared on TV last week (today show??) and am really wanting to purchase. We have a large house w/hardwood floors, 2 boys and 2many cats that do go in and out. Sweeping this AM I was wishing for the Rooma now, not Christmas. Realized as I swept up a few markers, crayons, legos... from under edges of furniture, picked up the cushions and lap quilt thrown on the floor - just how much time is this really going to save me?? Picking up IS the hard part not the sweeping. Any thoughts out there about my household problems?

[Mr Knowledge @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

You people that buy one of those Roomba machines must be morons..
It's rather obvious you have money to toss to the wind. You're probably the same people that
buy cheap Chinese-made products like them $29 DVD players in Wallmart.
With all of lifes "labor-saving devices" you'd think you would have more time to do a simple chore
like vaccuming your home. This product is the highlight of insanity and laziness, as well as slipping to a new low in
home-cleaning products. Mass marketing at it's finest and people actually BUY this crap!
God forbid you miss a cellphone call while using a standard and much better quality vacuum cleaner and using some muscle to push it around.
I'm not bitter, so get that out of your head, I just think the world is going "silly" with all the crap designed to make our lives easier.
If things continue on this level, pretty soon even sex itself will be a chore, oops, it already is!.. see www.robofucker.com to understand how they
turned an innocent Sunbeam Mixmaster among other power tools into a SuperSex tierless companion.. People, wake UP.. get a life!

[Mr Knowledge @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

You people that buy one of those Roomba machines must be morons..
It's rather obvious you have money to toss to the wind. You're probably the same people that
buy cheap Chinese-made products like them $29 DVD players in Wallmart.
With all of lifes "labor-saving devices" you'd think you would have more time to do a simple chore
like vaccuming your home. This product is the highlight of insanity and laziness, as well as slipping to a new low in
home-cleaning products. Mass marketing at it's finest and people actually BUY this crap!
God forbid you miss a cellphone call while using a standard and much better quality vacuum cleaner and using some muscle to push it around.
I'm not bitter, so get that out of your head, I just think the world is going "silly" with all the crap designed to make our lives easier.
If things continue on this level, pretty soon even sex itself will be a chore, oops, it already is!.. see www.robofucker.com to understand how they
turned an innocent Sunbeam Mixmaster among other power tools into a SuperSex tierless companion.. People, wake UP.. get a life!

[~Zeus~ @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Mr Knowledge is an idiot who obviously doesn't have enough to keep him busy, so he goes around and rips everyone else for having busy lives. My wife and I both work, we have two kids and two dogs and I must say that the Roomba is a lifesaver. With two kids and two dogs you wouldn't believe the amount of hair, dust, dirt, etc. that gets laid on our floors every day. What Mr Knowledge has a lack of understanding for, is that after coming home from work, cooking dinner, feeding the kids, paying the bills, bathing the kids, putting them to bed and then handling the other loose ends, cleaning ends up being a weekend chore. THere is simply not enough time to vacuum and clean in the evening before our kids go to bed. What we found is that Roomba is able to get the dust, hair and big particles of dirt and other stuff off our floor until we can do the deep weekly cleaning. Everyone's allergies have greatly improved and we always have clean floors now!

Again, Mr knowledge, before you stupidly rip people for buying these things, first try to understand the situations they are in. Maybe you have enough time to vacuum your house every day. You are not the norm.

As for other gadgets, yes, it has gotten a little out of control, but anything that truly helps our lives is a good thing. What is the difference between the gadget you push around to clean the floors as opposed to the one that pushes itself? Certainly not cost or effectiveness, as the Roomba actually cleans as good or better than 90% of the vacuums you can purchase in Wal Mart. The difference is that Roomba owners are able to do other things while it is vacuuming. You are stuck pushing your gadget.

By the way, for a deep cleaning vacuum, Kirby is the best. Check it out on eBay! You can get one very reasonable and it will blow away everything you have ever used. Roomba will pick up the surface dirt, but Kirby gets the dirt that works it way all the way into the pad. If you don't believe me just try one. Not only will your carpet look better than it ever has, your first bag will be fully of nothing but pure dirt and will be very heavy. When was the last time a Hoover or Bissel did that? Never!

[Lyressa @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I've had my Roomba for about 2 months now and I really like it. I work full time, go to school full time, and still try to have some sort of life, so it is really nice to be able to do school work and vacuum at the same time. For such a small device, it does a really great job. I am skeptical about the dept of the cleaning, but visually, it looks wonderful and the amount of junk I dump out of it makes me believe that it is definitely doing some real good.

I give it 4 stars!!!

[john wilkinson @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

I live in the UK and would like to buy a roomba discovery from Amazon.com and ship it to England; question is is the main charger compatible with UK 240volt main? If anyone has a roomba US edition charger and could let me know, I'd be very grateful

Thanks

John

[Bob Cat @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM]

Greetings fellow Roombanize followers, I received my Roomba Discovery on Father's Day 2005 about 9 in the evening. I was totally blown away, I had been watching the demo's on the television shopping channels from time to time and almost ordered one a time or two. I immediately pushed all the other gift's aside and put Roombie on CHARGE. It was the next day when I came home from work that I had my first chance to give the command...ROOMBIE START YOUR ENGINE...Off it went, on the first charge I do believe ROOMBIE ran almost two hours. During this time I emptied the dust compartment twice. It was getting under the tables and edges of the counters where extra effort was needed when running the old upright. I do believe it will almost reach into a corner with the small flicker which brings the surface dirt out to the main drive to pick up, leaving only a small space to clean later (which you know won't get done very often anyways). On day two when I got home from work the first thing I did was fire ROOMBIE off again, another compartment full of dirt, hair, etc. Where was it coming from, we had been vacuuming regularly and the floor and carpet looked clean? Was this little guy just trying to become one of the family and showing off? Day three rolled around and when I got home from work, I fired ROOMBIE off, set up the two barriers by the living room chairs and went outside to cut the grass...I was multi-tasking, no one would believe this...... I came back and found ROOMBIE had ran out of power in the living room, I checked the dirt compartment, it was about 1/2 full so I emptied it and then gave ROOMBIE an assist in getting back to it's charger in the kitchen. Once within range, I hit the buttons and it started it's mating dance and headed for the charger, once it moved into place and began singing it's love song it went to bed. I went about my business and after a few hours noticed it was fully charged again. I thought I would give it another run for his money so I grabbed the remote and gave the command again...off it went.....was this what my children had to look forward to in their later years....Robot's working around the house...just like in the old sci-fi movie's?.... This time after cleaning for an hour I moved Roombie back into range of the charger with the remote...ROOMBIE seemed to sense the opportunity for some fun and began it's love dance...moving closer and closer to it's belovid charger.....once ROOMBIE plugged in for a fresh charge, it sang it's love song, the light's went out and it was so excited that the motor drive would not shut off, it just sat there and ran and ran.....Finally I flipped it upside down and pulled the battery......Hoping that after a while it would settle down, to my dismay this was not the case, I plugged in the battery and off it went...Malfunction...no obvious way to repair...I tried all the buttons....checked the manual.....3 days old...it was with much saddness that I boxed the new friend up.....putting electrical tape over the battery contacts to keep it from running inside the box until totally dead...my wife and daughter then took it back to the TARGET store, explained the situation...it was stamped DEFECTIVE and sent back to his maker for repair....upon their return from shopping I looked at them with sad eyes while holding my Oil Can sized COLD FOSTER'S beer in my hand, I had visions of putting a can holder on top of Roombie and letting it deliver cold refreshments to my friends during visit's...these happy times would never happen...I would never have this pleasure....ROOMBIE...I'm sorry....I should have told my wife to bring home one of your cousin's to take your place......now here I sit...alone with my cup of coffee on an early Sunday morning...fullwell knowing that if I vacuum today...I will be vacuuming...not my little buddy...RIP....farewell friend.

[Rainbow Tang @ Apr 4th 2008 12:28PM]

I found it's more popular to use the Robot Vacuum Cleaners to clean our house instead of doing that by ourselves in China, especially in Shanghai, although other countries have already used these machines for many years. It will be a trend to the future and I found some Shanghai companies realize this trend and try to develop the huge market of China:
Shanghai Rob Live-in Industry Co.,Ltd
http://www.roblive-in.com/

[Sue @ Jan 3rd 2006 1:14AM]

I had my Discovery Roomba for about two weeks and was loving it...until one day it started spinning and stopping and trying to start again...long story short, I ended up calling customer service and found out that there was an issue with the Roomba having this "glitch" and they ended up sending out what is called an Osmos to fix it. (you have to hook it up to the Roomba and it downloads info to fix it and then you have to charge it for 16 hours.) Only problem is, it was to be about two weeks before I could get the part and I wasn't given the option to just return it to the store. Now, at first I was ok with this, but the original customer service person I spoke with told me Discovery Roombas manufactured before a certain date had this problem, and I must have the one manufactured before they discovered this problem. Well, the more I stewed on knowingly being sold a Roomba that was going to have this "glitch" the madder I got, and I called customer service to talk to a manager (who was "busy" and I left a message on his machine..and never got a call back)...over two weeks went by, and I didn't receive the osmos to fix my robot, I called again and this time felt I deserved at the very least some type of compensation. After a long talk with the manager,(who claims only SOME of the Roombas have this problem) he agreed to send me a free battery pack and another osmos next day air. (It took almost a week to get this one.) I will say my Roomba is working again, but I was not impressed with the customer service. The Roomba Discovery does a great job in helping to keep up with dog hair and everyday dirt that gets tracked onto my wooden, carpeted and linoleum floors but I still feel that to get a deep clean, I'll bring out my upright. It helps to keep my house feeling fresh and emptying the dirt bin and cleaning the brushes really doesn't take as much time as it would for me to vacuum my house. So all in all, I think it's a great little gadget...but if you have a "glitch" with it, make sure you are treated fairly!