Re: Roomba 570 problems

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Dan Lanciani" <ddl@danlan.*com> wrote in message ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx
(Robert Green) writes:

> | > I'm hoping for a version that empties itself at the dock.
> |
> | That's not a bad idea, but it would require a larger enclosure and a
second
> | vacuum motor for the charging station.  It might be possible to mate the
> | self-charging base with a central vacuum outlet and then cut a relay
> | controlled port and flap in the dust bin so that upon docking, it would
> | activate the central vacuum long enough to empty the bin.  The problem
with
> | that is that an automatic brush cleaner would also be needed, and that's
a
> | chore that doesn't seem easy to automate.
>
> The requirement for frequent manual brush cleaning is bothersome.  I don't
> have to clean the brush on my real vacuum cleaner.

So far, I've had two kamikaze bearings jump off into the trash can as I was
untangling remnants of the dog's rope from the brushes.  Bothersome, indeed.
The newest Red Roomba 4300 replaces the smaller of the bristle brushes with
a four flap rubber one and it seems more immune to tangling, but as you
point out, it's a chore that's rarely required of a real vacuum cleaner and
it's a fairly icky process.  I've ordered some (outrageously expensive!)
spare brushes so that I can swap them out and then batch clean a whole bunch
at once but it really is problem they need to address.

> | I've got to talk to the other "fleet owners" to see how they manage
their
> | Roombas.
>
> The 5xx series doesn't seem amenable to fleet ownership because of the
> way RF pairing works.  I'm wondering if they are going to rethink this
> for the next rev.

They should.  Lots of folks seem to run Roomba fleets. It's the only way to
clean up the whole house in a reasonable amount of time.  I wasn't aware the
5XX's use RF.  I've been trying to teach my HomeVision controller some of
the Rooma IR commands without much success but I haven't really spent a lot
of time on the issue.  I'd like to be able to issue a housewide "pause"
command to the bots when the doorbell or phone rings.  Eventually.

--
Bobby G.