i feel like a meanie

[magicicada]

jeff and i picked up a roomba on www.woot.com and i have been supervising it through it's first tour of the downstairs. it has done better than i would have expected with the various obstacles. i was quite delighted to see how it dealt with the cats' stray kibble and litter. however, i had to admit that while it would try really really hard to clean the rugs in the bathroom and utility room, it was not good for it's digestion. these are all either bathmats or descendents of bathmats, so i have taken them all and chucked them in the washer for a more proper cleaning. this resulted in lots of debris on the floors, so when the yellow light started flashing for a low battery warning - i locked it in the bathroom. i feel like a mean roomba mommie. it doesn't help that we tend to lock the cats in the bathroom when they've been excessively bad - or that there is a very confused cat trapped on the outside of the bathroom wondering why there is an alien in her food room.

Comments

[arielblue.livejournal.com]

*falls over laughing*

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

i tell you, these things are worth buying just for the cat confusion ;).

roomba has exhausted himself in the bathroom after getting up the worst of the kibbles and is now resting from his labors. the cat is still unsure if the bathroom is safe.

[tiger-stripes.livejournal.com]

*roflmao* thank you for the morning laugh. :-)

[knobody.livejournal.com]

*snort*

how does it handle strewn toys? does it gobble them up as well or is it good and leaves them alone? is it even better and returns them to the play room?

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

our trial was with cat toys:

toys which are flat, resemble paper, have string or feathers will be gobbled up.

larger toys will be pushed aside (this resulted in a really cute jangling from under the futon.)

toys are not returned to their play room, but roomba did push a book back out from under the futon which i had lost.

[eloren.livejournal.com]

I've wanted one of those from the day I first saw one! Your post gave me visions of the poor folorn roomba wondering what it did wrong to get locked up in the bathroom!

[h-postmortemus.livejournal.com]

I've wanted one for a while but couldn't justify it to myself. But it was $155 delivered from Woot, and that's for a new unit. Very, very good deal as it came with most of the accessories.

If you can pick one up from someplace like Target, go ahead and do so. Give it a trial, and if you find yourself having a hard time justifying the cost just return it... :)

[eloren.livejournal.com]

I have this sneaking suspicion that it would choke on little people toys in almost any room it's placed in. This is a failing on our part - but they are still ever so cool!