Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth

Our New Friend, The Roomba

Yesterday afternoon, it finally arrived: our first robot. Having grown up watching the Jetsons, I wondered how old I would be before I'd have my own Rosie the Robot, doing the dishes, cleaning the floors and dusting the china cabinet. For now, of course, I'll have to keep waiting for that particular image of mechanical bliss to enter my life, but my new friend Roomba will tie me over quite well until that time comes.

For those of you who haven't heard about the Roomba, it's a stout, flying saucer-like robot vacuum. Created by a group of Cambridge whiz kids who'd previously contracted with the U.S. military to make mine sweeping robots, the Roomba is the mine sweeper's peaceful, chore-loving cousin. The Roomba first came out at least a year ago, and the reviews were mixed: great idea, but it didn't vacuum very well and had a habit of breaking. But now, several generations later, the latest addition to the Roomba dynasty has gotten hardier for the task, with a bigger dustbin and a stronger vacuum.

Our Roomba arrived yesterday, so we put it to the test. After a few hours' charging, I put it in the center of the room and activated it. The little Roomba came alive, sweeping in a clockwise spiral motion. Our cats, Winston and Dizzy, immediately took notice; Susanne and I poured ourselves a glass of wine and waited to see what would happen next.

The Roomba soon banged into our coffee table -- not a problem. Like a pinball hitting an electric wall, it careened off the table at an angle, heading in another direction. It managed to bang into every piece of furniture in our living room, but all the while it computed the size of the space. Soon, it began sweeping in long strokes across the floor, hugging the walls and the furniture, weaving its way through each room. All the while, our cats stalked our little motorized friend, Winston apparently more suspicious of its intentions than Dizzy. Winnie would maintain a reasonable distance, watching it alertly, while dizzy would occasionally forget it was coming right at him, leading to a couple of humorous, but harmless robot-feline collisions.

Considering the amount of cat hair we seem to have lying around because of the boys, the Roomba did a fine job vacuuming it up. Occasionally it would stumble upon a dust bunny in a corner, then would either drag it until it stuck on the carpet or blow it up in the air, but otherwise it managed to vacuum up what is was supposed to. It even picked up the bits of kibble that the cats had flicked across the kitchen floor. I was most impressed by its ability to go where no man had gone before -- under our sofa and entertainment center, sucking up huge gobs of dust that had accumulated over months on end.

All and all, I think we're going to get along with our Roomba just fine. I just wonder when our cats will get brave enough to pounce it.... -andy