Roomba robot vacuum cleaner

[Tundro Walker]

Being the lazy cleaning person I am, and a pretty avid adopter of technology, I just ordered one of these things (http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=122). Online reviews seem positive, but I was curious if any fellow Ubuntu-Users have one, and what your opinion is of it. If it cleans as good as folks say, I'll probably get one for my parents, too. Off the bat, though, my complaint is that you have to buy filters and such for it occasionally. But, hey, if it can vacuum the floor while I'm at work, it might be worth it, as long as it doesn't break easily or what-not.

[Lostincyberspace]

Those are like five years old now.

[swoll1980]

I sold Kirby's for sometime and seen a few of these things, and they aren't worth a crap. it's more of a conversation piece than anything else. A blind guy with a toothbrush and matchbook could clean your floor better than that thing

[chewearn]

Two things:
1. You have to plan your furnitures around the little fellow, and no throwing your stuffs all over the floor; unless you have smooth and clear floor space, it will get caught on every single thing

2. Cleaning the bugger became a hassle; the dust chamber design is quite retarded

Other than that, it is worth it.
:)

[Ceemee]

Me and my wife got one, while its not going to keep your floors spotless, we enjoy it because we have two dogs, and it really takes the edge off the dog hair in the house.

I just set it to run every night before bed, dump the bin in the morning, and run it again while im at work.

it doesnt get everything, nor does it replace a traditional vacuum cleaner, but it helps, and with two dogs, one a labrador, it helps ALOT.

[Vaelrith]

I've been planning on getting one for my dorm room. I'm sure it can keep it cleaner than I can......

[Tundro Walker]

Pretty much the responses I was looking for.

I know they've been out for a while, and I wanted them to work through the "novelty" versions into something that's actually practical before getting one myself. Folks say the newer ones are a bit smarter about cleaning and docking/recharging. There was a youtube video about lint and junk getting up into the brush gear-box, but others say it's been resolved by now (was a defect on a certain build of the product I guess).

The area it would clean at my place is pretty much open floor with some furniture. Don't leave things on the ground (like socks or clothes) that it would hang on. My roommate and I are not big slobs, so all we really need is a light-cleaning periodically to keep things in shape.

I was also thinking of getting a robo-mower (more for my parents than me), but it's like $2000...not sure I want to pop money on something like that yet.

What I find odd is that some guy can program Zeus-bots for Quake with exceptional path-finding for maps they've never played, and yet folks are saying these robots sometimes miss a spot. I'd think by now we'd have robotics that had advanced path finding, and would mentally map out the room as it goes instead of wandering aimlessly.

[BOBSONATOR]

Put Linux On It