my home Robots: online again

German below, Deutsch unten!

A short summary about my home cleaning robots ROOMBA and SCOOBA from the US company iRobot: Both are well again. They had been cleaning the tiles of my home (we don't have carpets for climate reasons here in Taiwan) since April.

Photo: Ludigel

Ah yes, iRobot's website gives you the choice between "tactical robots" and "cleaning robots", mind you choose the cleaning robots for your home or you'll scare the neighbours :-)

The image above shows iRobot Roomba Discovery, a vacuum robot, it had worked well until August and then dropped dead for a charging board issue. Repair cost in Taiwan was 2500 Taiwan Dollars, that makes 62.50 Euro. It is now working well again and the iRobot service in Taiwan was very fast, only 2 days over weekend! We turned it on yesterday morning and when we came back, two rooms were clean and Roomba had put himself on the charger again. I hope it doesn't need this repair all few month, that would be expensive. There is already a new model out:

Photo: iRobot

... and as development is fast in the robotics sector, there is a great chance the new model will be improved a great deal.

SCOOBA is the washer twin of Roomba, it is moving slower and mine does not have this "go back to base" feature...

Photo: Ludigel

... but it gives a more "worthy" impression than the old grey Roomba with its thick plastic and brushed metal rear. Besides a battery capacity problem (could be solved by charging both batteries 7 hours each without interruption) and a slight insecurity in moving when going through water (the wheels can be replaced if this gets ever real bad, presently it does not affect its ability to clean) it is still working without a problem.

I love my robots and will stay hooked on them. But picture me waiting for the ones that look like...

Photo: my company's server (I live in Asia you know...)

... ups ..... never mind.

German, Deutsch:

Beide Roboter Roomba (Sauger) und Scooba (Wischer) von iRobot sind wieder aktiv, nachdem der Roomba für etwa 65 Euro repariert wurde. Garantie hatten wir wegen günstigerer Einkaufsquelle ja keine (US-Preis statt doppeltem Taiwanpreis, auch in Deutschland mehr als doppelter US-Preis nach meiner damaligen Recherche). Die Ladeplatine beim Roomba war defekt. Vielleicht, weil wir ihn gemäß Bedienungsanleitung ständig an der Ladestation gelassen hatten, was wir jetzt nicht mehr tun.

Es gibt schon wieder ein neues Roomba-Modell, der vermutlich weiter verbessert worden ist. Die saugenden Haushaltsroboter zählen noch zum Early-Adopter-Preissegment, bei dem neue Technologien zum höheren Preis an Technikverliebte verkauft werden.

Apropos verliebt, weil die Roboter so fleissig putzen, bin ich ja schon vernarrt in sie. Aber verliebt nicht, die Gefahr besteht erst, wenn sie aussehen wie auf dem unteren Bild (hust).



Previous postings:

http://bobhonest.blogspot.com/2007/08/robot-war-over.html (English and German)

http://de.passado.com/blogEntry.aspx?entry_id=145320 (only German, with pics of partially disassembled robot)