Some days are smarter than others

[c9]

Early August: we kill Roomba by accident Roomba fails at 2.5 years old, which is not completely uncommon for older Roombas.

Mid August: I order replacement Roomba through out-of-warranty program.

Late August: iRobot tells me that it's backordered, no expected delivery date yet.

Early September: house is getting pretty messy, and sweeping is no fun.

Mid September: I start half-heartedly bidding on Roombas on eBay, never at a high enough price to win.

Yesterday: Within minutes, I win a Roomba for less than $100 (crazy), and iRobot emails me to tell me that my new Roomba will be shipped within a couple days (Murphy's Law).

*sigh* Anyone interested in buying a slightly used Roomba? I'll give a good price! They really are awesome -- that's why I've now spent about $450 on three. (New ones are $300-$400 in Canada)

Comments

[sassy-red-head.livejournal.com]

I might be interested but what's holding me back is the stairs. I'm guessing it doesn't do stairs.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Correct, it doesn't clean stairs. But it can avoid them, if that's a worry. It won't fall or anything.

[sassy-red-head.livejournal.com]

I'll consider it. How much are you asking?

[c9.livejournal.com]

Dunno. Once I have both, I'll ensure I have what I need working, then I'll figure out the value of what's left. (I may have some extra pieces which would make it more useful, and I think one is a slightly different model)

[sassy-red-head.livejournal.com]

cool. Let me know.

[jpman.livejournal.com]

I'm interested too. Good present for my parents.

[evad-cgy.livejournal.com]

How does mr roomba interact with the cats? More importantly how good is it on cat hair?!?

[c9.livejournal.com]

Practically the only reason we need it is cat hair! It's great at that. Also, it interacts with them perfectly. They are not best friends of course, but they just move out of the way, or sometimes watch with suspicion. Even if they're sleeping, the roomba can't hurt them -- any collision is so light they'd just get up and walk away.

[skeezix1000.livejournal.com]

Just seen on cbc.ca:

Consumers sucked in by robotic vacuums' charms, study finds

Last Updated: Tuesday, October 2, 2007 | 9:08 AM ET
The Associated Press

They give them nicknames, worry when they signal for help and sometimes even treat them like a trusted pet.

A new study shows how deeply some Roomba owners become attached to the robotic vacuums and suggests there's a measure of public readiness to accept robots in the house — even flawed ones.

"They're more willing to work with a robot that does have issues because they really, really like it," said Beki Grinter, an associate professor at Georgia Tech's College of Computing.

"It sort of begins to address more concerns: If we can design things that are somewhat emotionally engaging, it doesn't have to be as reliable."

Grinter decided to study the devices after she saw online pictures of people dressing up their Roombas, the disc-shaped, self-directed vacuums made by Burlington, Mass-based iRobot Corp.

"This sort of notion that someone would dress a vacuum cleaner seemed strange," she said. "A lot more was going on."

She enlisted PhD student Ja Young Sung, who studies "emotional design" — the theory that certain types of design can influence consumers to become emotionally attached.

The Roomba seems to have earned quite a following. More than two million of the robots have been sold, although some earlier versions suffered from motor failure and other problems after intensive use. The company says its latest model — the fifth generation — has been "reinvented" for improved performance.

The first phase of the project, which involved monitoring an online forum, revealed people who named their Roombas, travelled with them and one owner who introduced the machine to his parents.

Others reported their efforts to "Roomba-ize" their homes so the robot can roam the floors more easily. Some bought new rugs, precleaned the floors to clear the robot's route and purchased new refrigerators with a higher clearance so the machines can clean under them easier.

"I was blown away," said Young Sung. "Some Roombas break a lot, they still have functional problems. But people are willing to make that effort because they love their robot enough."

The next part, which studied 30 committed Roomba users, revealed 21 of them gave their robots names. And another 16 talked about the robot as a "he," arbitrarily assigning the robot a gender.

The third phase of the study, presented last week at the Ubiquitous Computing Conference in Austria, focused on more traditional users. Polling 379 U.S. users, it found that some would preclean their homes before using the machine and that it seemed to make males more excited about the chore of vacuuming.

"The female of the house says, 'You take care of it — it's your toy,' " said Young Sung.