Robot Fun!

My Roomba arrived yesterday, just three days after I ordered it from The Shopping Channel (TSC) online, which was unexpectedly fast! With taxes and shipping, it cost me about $280. I have 30 days to try it out, and if I don't like it, TSC will give me a full refund.

So, I plugged Roomba in and let it charge overnight. When I got home from work today, I tried it out, and here's what I discovered.

It doesn't do a perfect job (e.g., it can't get into corners because it's round), but it picked up a lot of dust and fuzz from the floor that I didn't even know was there. We had swept and mopped the floors about a week ago, so I didn't expect to see much stuff in the dust chamber of the Roomba, but I let it run for about half an hour and then checked to see what Roomba found. It actually picked up a whole bunch of stuff!

Roomba had some trouble with our bathroom mat. It actually picked it up and carried it along for a bit until I freed it. I guess the mat is too small and light. And you definitely have to clear away any wires or cords from the floor before turning on Roomba because it gets caught on those quite easily.

Our coffee table was a little confusing to Roomba, causing it to clean the same areas of the floor many times over. And Roomba got caught and stuck on our big floor registers.

In conclusion...

• Roomba is a lot of fun to watch (I actually liked it instantly after I turned it on)!
  
• Roomba cleans in places I don't like cleaning, like under and behind the sofa, and under the kitchen table and around the chair legs.
  
• Because of the way Roomba works, you have to keep junk off your floors (but that's good motivation for keeping the house tidy anyway).
  
• Roomba is like a pet, except that it's a robot that likes to clean! Yay! :D
  
• I think I'm going to keep my Roomba.
  

In case you were wondering, Roomba is about 1 foot (32 cm) in diameter and 3 inches (8 cm) tall: