Stewart Brand writes glowingly of the Roomba at Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools blog. (Thanks to Dave Winer for the pointer.) I was awarded a Roomba for my half baked idea regarding robotic pet exercise devices last year at the Accelerating Change gathering.
When I tried it at my house it didn’t work. Things that choked the Roomba:
- Fringed rugs.
- Differences in floor elevation, room to room.
- Deep area rugs on hardwood floors… once off the rug, Roomba never wanted to climb back on, just kept cleaning the perimeter.
- Dining room table and chair legs. Roomba could never find its way under the table.
- Stairs.
Our old farm-house just isn’t Roomba-friendly.
Good to know. I was really tempted last week when I saw one at Costco.
I was concerned though since I have fringed rugs and deep area rugs on hardwood floors, not to mention various little bottlenecks that I can imagine it not finding away through that are probably not that different from a Roombas POV than chairs under a dining room table (which I also have)