Roomba Vacuum

iRobot has created the most popular floor cleaning robot in the world, the Roomba vacuum. This is one of the first robotic vacuums to be manufactured at a price many consumers can afford and has since made it into over one million homes. The Roomba vacuum line consists of five models, see below for more information on each. iRobot has since created another model called Scooba which cleans hardfloor surfaces such as linoleum by prepping, washing, scrubbing and drying.  

To navigate around your home the Roomba vacuum cleaner uses a sophisticated operating system that processes data gathered as it bumps into objects as well as information received from infrared sensors help it determine where it has traveled and where it is in a room. On board sensors also provide feedback to stop it from falling off the end of the stairs or getting stuck in the corner. Some newer generation models offer a home docking station to allow it to automatically return and start to recharge, fully charged Roombas can clean approximately three average sized rooms and provide about 3 hours of battery life.

As mentioned earlier the line of Roomba vacuums consist of five models; Roomba Red is the basic model costing approximately $150.00 it offers stair avoidance sensors, wall sensors and three hour battery life. Costing slightly more is the Roomba Sage at approx. $200.00, it has similar features as Roomba Red but only takes 3 hours to charge instead of 7. Next we’ll look at both the $275.00 Roomba Discovery and the $300.00 Roomba Discovery SE. Loaded with available features such as; being able to detect the best cleaning pattern in a room, can automatically return to home base and recharge or can be set to keep cleaning to failure. The top of the line model is the Roomba Scheduler costing around $325.00. As the name suggests you can schedule it to automatically clean at certain times, and comes with a number of accessories.

Scooba is a floor washing robot that incorporates many of the same navigational features as the Roomba vacuum but is intended to clean hardloor surfaces such as linoleum, tile and hard wood. It begins by picking up loose dirt and debris. Then it washes the floor using a Clorox cleaning solution. Next it scrubs the floor surface removing grime and dirt. Finally it picks up the dirty solution leaving the floor clean and dry.