Robotic vacuum cleaners

I was in a UK wholesale store last night looking at an automated vacuum cleaner by the irobot company.

The model in question was the roomba 530 and it was on sale at £149.99 + VAT (at 15%). This is very cheap for the UK and the package included a docking station and what I assume to be laser perimeter blocks to prevent cleaning in unwanted zones.

These vacuums really are amazing and they are cheaper than the popular (in the UK at least) Dyson vacs which I can say, through first hand experience, are not what they are cracked up to be.

So what does an irobot vacuum do?

Well put simply it can vacuum clean carpets and hard floors on a single level without any human intervention, other than to flick on a switch. In fact, if you buy the 560 you can even schedule its operation meaning that you do not even have to initiate the cleaning.

The vac will clean up to 4 rooms on a single 3 hour charge and will return to its docking station to recharge once it senses that its battery is running low. Sensors prevent the robot from falling off edges like stairs and it detects walls and other obstacles so as not to charge into them. It will also clean up to skirtings and around chair and table legs.

The one thing that it does require is emptying and periodic replacement of its brushes, but cleaning and maintenance is required of all cleaners, automated or otherwise.

Trying to describe how an irobot vacuum works is actually pointless as I can direct you to a video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Thsj-uOMxA which illustrates what it does and how it does it far better than a written description.