Roomba's journey shown to be endless, beautiful

We've always suspected our Roomba was actually performing a complex dance loaded with hidden meaning and bewitching charm instead of just bouncing around, and now we've got proof -- check out this long-exposure shot of a Roomba's path over 30 minutes. You can see the initial spiral path in the center, but after that it's a free-for-all that somehow manages to cover the entire room. Now if someone would just make a high-speed video set to the Benny Hill music, we'd be all set.

[Via DoobyBrain]

[Marcus @ May 9th 2009 12:54PM]

Is it not possible for it to go nearer the wall? That's where most of the crap is accumulated.

[TRAFFICBLOWS @ May 9th 2009 12:56PM]

not if the light is in the middle of the device

[Marcus @ May 9th 2009 12:57PM]

You sir, outsmarted me. I apologize.

[AndrewNoNumbers @ May 9th 2009 1:44PM]

I never knew there was even light on the Roomba.

[AMiSH PiRATE @ May 9th 2009 2:05PM]

you guys mean that's not robot pee?

[Phoenix @ May 9th 2009 3:11PM]

Wow... someone strapped a light on a Roomba and tracked it for a half hour? They've got WAY too much time on their hands... though I've got to say this looks a lot like subatomic particle trails in particle supercollider tests...

[zim2411 @ May 9th 2009 3:25PM]

@Phoenix, no. The power button serves as a battery level indicator while it's running. It starts out green when it's full charged, and gently fades to red. (I'm not sure how the photographer here made his stick to orange, Photoshop probably.)

As for it not getting near a wall, the indicator is close to the middle. It actually does get stuff out of corners by using a little brush thing, similar to a street sweeper.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zim2411/3258842901/

[Josh @ May 10th 2009 12:02PM]

The front corner of a Roomba has a spinning brush that takes care of the corner case.

[Digitalosh @ May 10th 2009 1:21PM]

@zim2411 no photoshop, I think it's because of the ambient light. I was actually really disappointed that it didn't change colors in the shot (it was at red when I killed it)

[Badger_badger_badger @ May 9th 2009 12:55PM]

Trippin'

[Ray @ May 9th 2009 1:07PM]

Don't do drugs... or light mounted roomba trips

[sacapuntas @ May 9th 2009 1:05PM]

I will give you one guess as to what the next Dan Brown novel will be about.

[Samboini @ May 9th 2009 1:08PM]

Chocolate rabbits?

[Fraggy4 @ May 10th 2009 4:15AM]

It's about Kryptos, the creepy structure at the C.I.A. Headquarters in Langley, VA.

[dannyjbell @ May 9th 2009 1:21PM]

done. speedup is broken, but the cat makes up for the loss.

http://james.nerdiphythesoul.com/bennyhillifier/?id=LQ-jv8g1YVI

[John @ May 9th 2009 1:38PM]

That is -Awesome-!!

[matt @ May 9th 2009 2:28PM]

That is made of WIN!

[Luke @ May 9th 2009 1:18PM]

That is a pretty awesome shot, it was taken on a canon rebel XSi, I wonder what aperture and ISO was used

[zim2411 @ May 9th 2009 3:21PM]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zim2411/3258842901/

I used a Rebel XT for that with an 18mm focal point, f/4.5, ISO 800, and a 30" exposure. Mine is a 40 minute run as well.

[Brandon L @ May 9th 2009 5:47PM]

How do you know it was taken with an XSi?

It was probably a low ISO (100), decently small aperture (prob f/16 or so), and a long shutter speed.

[JoeyJason @ May 9th 2009 6:34PM]

@Brandon L
Thats the dude that took the photo, linked... look at the Usernames!

[Luke @ May 9th 2009 7:19PM]

@Brandon L ,
It says on the linked website for this article. Some of the tags on the guys blog post are "Canon, Digital, Rebel, XSi"

[Guy Montag @ May 10th 2009 2:36AM]

Right from the flickr page for the photo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulchavady/3458136141/meta/

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Exposure: 1620
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 20 mm
ISO Speed: 400

[darkmax @ May 9th 2009 1:27PM]

that is actually beautiful..... hypnotically

[Tim @ May 9th 2009 1:34PM]

Anyone else think this looks like a crop circle?

[Matt @ May 9th 2009 1:42PM]

This looks like epic.

[ben.brase @ May 9th 2009 2:46PM]

Nope, not at all, well, because it is not at all a circle.

[Wwhat @ May 10th 2009 12:51PM]

So you are saying cropcircles are made by alien roombas? Interesting theory O_o

[evanwehrer @ May 14th 2009 9:42PM]

I THOUGHT THE SAME THING

[DooM @ May 9th 2009 1:42PM]

Will this thing continue to run until you make it stop? That's a pretty small place to work on for thirty minutes.

[Mike @ May 9th 2009 1:44PM]

uh, missed a spot.

[ethana2 @ May 9th 2009 2:57PM]

eww

[audifan @ May 9th 2009 1:45PM]

It's ridiculously inefficient....

[Rik Feilden @ May 9th 2009 1:55PM]

Yet hugely effective. The amount of pet hair that Roomba pulls out of the carpet never ceases to amaze me

[JerkyChew @ May 9th 2009 2:07PM]

It's actually quite efficient. The roomba motor isn't as powerful as a regular vac, so it takes multiple passes to suck up all the dirt. This is why it goes over its own path several times.

[nstoehr @ May 9th 2009 4:33PM]

As are most things that are effective...

[ShinyaAoki @ May 9th 2009 1:54PM]

I always confuse Benny Hill and Benny Hinn. When my mom told me about the preacher dude healing people and stuff, I was thinking "Wasn't that guy chasing half naked chicks on TV? Was he born again?"

[james rose @ May 9th 2009 4:47PM]

LOL hill was the british prevy guy, hinn was the preacher

[TVGenius @ May 9th 2009 6:53PM]

Obligatory Benny Hinn / "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lvU-DislkI

[Matt_G @ May 11th 2009 1:05PM]

I have never seen that before.... I nearly peed myself!

[scjessey @ May 9th 2009 1:58PM]

Now I totally want one of these. I'll stick on a few extra LEDs of different colors (with some of them blinking) just to get some unique art.

[muddyh2o @ May 9th 2009 2:02PM]

no, you won't.

[JerkyChew @ May 9th 2009 2:09PM]

How big is that room, like 5 square feet? Maybe he should have put the $250 on a Roomba towards renting a new place.

[Digitalosh @ May 9th 2009 11:16PM]

I own it actually.... and it's just my bedroom!

[SABRAGE @ May 9th 2009 3:51PM]

If you look at the top of the photo, you can see that he made a small area so the entire path would fit in the camera shot. But if we weren't using our brains, we could just go with your post.

[Badger_badger_badger @ May 9th 2009 10:35PM]

Hey JerkyChew, do you need some ice for that burn?

[Gad Get @ May 10th 2009 7:27AM]

Actually, they say that putting ice on a burn just compounds the problem, because it's so easy to give yourself frostbite doing that. Imagine--frostbite on top of a burn! Two different types of tissue damage one after another on the same area of skin! Better just to use a cold gel pack, or run cold water over it.

What--? Oh, silly me... it was a figure of speach!

[Digitalosh @ May 9th 2009 11:16PM]

Hey Engadget, you should change the link from doobybrain to me, as I'm the original author... see the post here: http://signaltheorist.com/?p=91

[cuby @ May 10th 2009 3:01AM]

*strenuously raising hand and going "ooh ooh ooh" to call attention to engadget editors to make this important fix*

[Nate DiDonato @ May 10th 2009 7:19AM]

Maybe they saw how broken your comments section was on your blog and they didn't bother.

Or maybe the fact that the site is linked off of Flickr, and the little comic in your blog has no option to view larger, is taken from wellingtongrey.net via theinternetjournalist.com, thus they probably asked, "hmm... wonder if this guy hosts ANY of his own pictures?"