Life with a robot vacuum cleaner

OLD shows like The Jetsons used to predict we’d live with robot servants by now. But while we don’t yet have wisecracking android maids, at least we’re making progress.

Not knowing exactly what to expect, I took a chance on a robot vacuum cleaner a few months ago. If you haven’t seen one of these things yet, they’re pretty nifty little numbers. Basically, it’s a cordless, automated vacuum cleaner that scoots around the house like the cute little robot from Star Wars.

What looks like a plastic 32cm hockey puck bumps around the furniture sucking up whatever dustiness is in its path. It has a shock-absorbing bumper up front which allows it to negotiate obstacles, rotate and move on in a different direction. It hugs corners, follows along walls and generally does a pretty good job. My wife and I haven’t used our normal vacuum cleaner since we bought it.

I wasn’t able to find any robot retailers in my area so I hopped on ebay and got the cheapest model available, a nameless $149 job from a Hong Kong distributor with free shipping. I figured for that price, unless it rallies the other appliances to revolt against me, it’s worth a shot. Within five days, the box arrived. It simply read “Robot Vacuum Cleaner” without any brand or manufacturer details. Clearly not an Aussie product but there were no Chinese postal markings – just some stamped-on shipping info from Brisbane. No assembly required.

The vacuum came with a few handy extras (pictured right). Among these is a “virtual wall” which emits an invisible boundary beam to keep the robot out of certain areas. There’s maintenance gear, brushes, replacement filters and a remote control. The remote is used for turning it on and off but once it gets going, it’s pretty independent. Press the “home” button and the vacuum automatically returns to its recharging port, which is a plastic dock the size of a video cassette plugged into the wall. The robot will work for a few hours on a single charge.

The instruction manual is of the hilariously bad translation variety, which has led to some trouble getting the most out of the vacuum’s functionality. For example, an arrow points left and the instructions contrarily say, “Turn right key”, then the following:

Press ‘Turn right’ for long, the Cleaner will turn counterclockwise in situ, and while you release the key, it will run forward as you expected. Press ‘Off’ to stop the Robot. It will stop automatically in case of the obstacle.

I think this bit is meant to help me drive the vacuum around manually but it’s a moot point – the launch-and-forget mode is much more convenient. I’ve figured out how to set it for general household roving and circular spot-cleaning missions but I know it’s got more potential than that.

Apparently, there’s also a sanitising UV light and we can pre-program the robot to automatically leave its recharging port whether we’re home or not. The scheduling function makes it start cleaning at certain times on certain days and it’ll return to its dock when power starts to run low. There’s a button on the remote for every day of the week but I haven’t heard back from NASA yet about just how to engineer this setting. Not exactly one-touch programming.

But even if I haven’t been able to decrypt the manual or operate all the features, the robo-vac is still a worthwhile thing to have around. It really has kept the floor clean, no bending over, no bags and no hassle dragging out our old vacuum, which is a cumbersome cylinder-with-hose model. I’ll admit, I keep the remote on the kitchen table, brush crumbs on the floor and call the robot to clean it up for me. You can’t put a price tag on that.

It works on all surfaces, hardwoods, laminates, carpets and tiles. It has a sensor that makes it turn around if it encounters a stair or some other hazardous drop-off. And most relieving to me, it’s not as loud as a normal vacuum, making just a light hum and some funny servo-rotating robot noises. All in all, it’s pretty great but it does have its limitations.

You’ve got to make sure you’ve cleared out any objects that could trip it up while it’s roaming around. Bunches of television cables or dangling strings from window shades can cause it to get caught. If it gets stuck, it will turn itself off but the last thing you want is to come home to find a dirty floor and a disabled robot straddling some ramp-shaped object. You’ve got to robot-proof your home. This shouldn’t be too big a problem but you’ll have to do a few test runs to see what it can handle.

The big issue at our house are the oriental rugs. The robot kept getting caught on the fringe, so I trimmed it back with a pair of scissors (not a fancy carpet by the way). I wouldn’t dare trim the fringe on the really nice rugs, so we just throw them on the couch before we dispatch the vacuum. Everyone is likely to have their own little stumbling blocks that keep these gadgets from being a perfect vacuuming solution but almost any home can make use of one.

Because of its small size, a robot vac will probably have less power than your standard upright and you may have to empty the dust compartment fairly often. But it keeps the floor looking good on a day-to-day basis and is much less troublesome to maintain than a traditional vacuum.

If you don’t want to go for the dodgy no-name kind like I did, know that the most reputable maker of robot vacuums is iRobot. They make the successful Roomba series as well as the wet-washing Scooba. Also take a look at Robomaid Australia while you’re browsing around.

If you’ve had experience with a robot vacuum or would like to share your input with SuperLiving readers, have your say in the comment section below.