Who knew the Roomba had an inner artist?
September 26, 2009 8:03 PM Subscribe
Haha! These are great. We've been proud Roomba owners for a few years now (Mrs. flapjax got one as partial payment for her translating the manual) and I can't say enough good about the thing. And now, people are making art with 'em! Wonderful!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:08 PM on September 26, 2009
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:08 PM on September 26, 2009
Is the photographer using stock Roombas or are they hacked in some way? In other words, do the trails in the photos represent normal roomba logic?
posted by werkzeuger at 8:12 PM on September 26, 2009
posted by werkzeuger at 8:12 PM on September 26, 2009
I like the ones with markers attached onto the backs. That's actually quite clever.
posted by Askiba at 8:14 PM on September 26, 2009
posted by Askiba at 8:14 PM on September 26, 2009
werkzeuger: I have an early model, but those paths look just like paths my roomba takes. It has a handful of patterns (the expanding spiral, the room-filling zigzag, etc) which it switches between.
posted by hattifattener at 8:23 PM on September 26, 2009
posted by hattifattener at 8:23 PM on September 26, 2009
I must tape a light to my Roomba now.
And, ya, those are exactly the kind of paths my Roomba takes. Starts with a spiral, then shoots off in some random direction and doesn't usually miss anything.
posted by The Deej at 9:04 PM on September 26, 2009
And, ya, those are exactly the kind of paths my Roomba takes. Starts with a spiral, then shoots off in some random direction and doesn't usually miss anything.
posted by The Deej at 9:04 PM on September 26, 2009
I think it was Cortex who said one of the saddest things in the world was to watch a Roomba stuck inside a hoola-hoop.
posted by hellojed at 9:40 PM on September 26, 2009 [4 favorites]
posted by hellojed at 9:40 PM on September 26, 2009 [4 favorites]
I'm working on something similar which involves a locked room and one of those guys with the flashing bluetooth headsets. Can't decide on whether to add water or bees though.
posted by orme at 9:57 PM on September 26, 2009 [17 favorites]
posted by orme at 9:57 PM on September 26, 2009 [17 favorites]
one of the saddest things in the world was to watch a Roomba stuck inside a hoola-hoop.
Not if your goal is to get a hoola-hoop-sized area of your floor really clean.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:00 PM on September 26, 2009 [2 favorites]
Not if your goal is to get a hoola-hoop-sized area of your floor really clean.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:00 PM on September 26, 2009 [2 favorites]
orme: "I'm working on something similar which involves a locked room and one of those guys with the flashing bluetooth headsets. Can't decide on whether to add water or bees though."
Bees
posted by double block and bleed at 10:16 PM on September 26, 2009 [3 favorites]
Bees
posted by double block and bleed at 10:16 PM on September 26, 2009 [3 favorites]
Wet bees?
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:45 PM on September 26, 2009
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:45 PM on September 26, 2009
RoomBees.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:48 PM on September 26, 2009 [6 favorites]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:48 PM on September 26, 2009 [6 favorites]
Is the photographer using stock Roombas or are they hacked in some way?
Great. Now I have the urge to find out how to hack a Roomba to slowly spell things out using areas of clean carpet or start moving in elder sign patterns. Thanks.
posted by Avelwood at 12:01 AM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]
Great. Now I have the urge to find out how to hack a Roomba to slowly spell things out using areas of clean carpet or start moving in elder sign patterns. Thanks.
posted by Avelwood at 12:01 AM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]
Can't decide on whether to add water or bees though.
Bonus points if you can get him to spell out "I'M COVERED IN BEES".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:04 AM on September 27, 2009
Bonus points if you can get him to spell out "I'M COVERED IN BEES".
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:04 AM on September 27, 2009
I love the glowing light on the Roomba. Green-orange-red. Makes me feel like my floor is being cleaned by a raver, a wee mecha-raver.
posted by bonehead at 7:28 AM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by bonehead at 7:28 AM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]
I have to say, I've always resisted the urge to buy a Roomba, even though I hate vacuuming, but seeing that they actually do cover the whole floor pretty well, I'm tempted.
I hate mopping even more, though. Is the Scuuba any good? I've heard that you can replace the soap with vinegar or dilute Dr. Bronner's, so I'm not worried about that part of the cost.
posted by mccarty.tim at 8:59 AM on September 27, 2009
I hate mopping even more, though. Is the Scuuba any good? I've heard that you can replace the soap with vinegar or dilute Dr. Bronner's, so I'm not worried about that part of the cost.
posted by mccarty.tim at 8:59 AM on September 27, 2009
Roomba is a Spirograph? Sweet.
(Also, I found a Javascript Spirograph! Oh yes!)
posted by Pallas Athena at 10:02 AM on September 27, 2009
(Also, I found a Javascript Spirograph! Oh yes!)
posted by Pallas Athena at 10:02 AM on September 27, 2009
Is the Scuuba any good?
Wait, there's a mopping roomba? Oh fuck yes.
posted by device55 at 10:52 AM on September 27, 2009
Wait, there's a mopping roomba? Oh fuck yes.
posted by device55 at 10:52 AM on September 27, 2009
We own three! I can say without a doubt it was some of the best money we have ever spent. Being frugal by nature it was a tough decision, but when I found one for 70% off at the Home Shopping Outlet store, we were in. We eventually bought all of them there. The Scooba and the Roomba work the house and the Dirt Dog works our shop. We could probably use two more DirtDogs as the shop is 7,000 ft, and the little canister gets filled up pretty quick. But it's purchase was designed to help, not replace our shop guy. I would say the same for the other two as well, they are a HUGE help as we have three Great Danes, but you still need to hand sweep the corners and pickup errant socks and chew bones :) Cool link BTW
posted by HappyHippo at 1:02 PM on September 27, 2009
posted by HappyHippo at 1:02 PM on September 27, 2009
So that roomba may be an artist, but my roomba is possesed. Or evil, with early-stage plans for world domination. Not sure which.
Last year, I turned it on in my kitchen and went upstairs. A few minutes later, I heard a loud clanging noise down in the kitchen. I returned to the kitchen to find part of the roomba (the part that holds the dirt it collects) laying limp on my kitchen floor. I could hear but not see the rest of the roomba.
I followed the sound of the whirring roomba to the half-bathroom adjacent to the kitchen. The bathroom door was closed, and I could hear the roomba going inside. Evidently, the roomba had bumped its way into the bathroom, navigated around the back of the bathroom door and then pushed it closed. (The door opens into the bathroom, not into the kitchen.) No problem. The bathroom has no lock, just a manual latch that the roomba would have to be about four feet taller (and with arms) to do anything about. Still, when I turned the handle on the bathroom door, I was unable to open the door more than a quarter inch.
Peering through the very small gap below the door, I figured out what was wrong. My spouse is not a tall person, and we have a folding step ladder that we keep near the kitchen in case she needs to reach top shelves. Of late, we had been keeping the step ladder propped up on the wall in our bathroom. The step ladder (folded up) is about three feet wide and one inch tall. The bathroom is three feet wide. The roomba knocked the ladder over so that it lay flat on the floor, and then pushed it into position to barricade the door closed.
So we tried everything. We took the handle off the door and tried to hang a hook made of coat hangers through it to pull the ladder out of position. We tried a lever to dislodge it through the gap below the door. We tried to use the fraction of an inch that we could open the door to put a hook through to catch the ladder. Nothing worked. We would have taken the door off its hinges, but the hinges were on the other side of the barricaded door. The bathroom has no windows or other ways in. We were screwed.
The solution came when I went to Home Depot. I told the sales associate that I needed to saw an inch off the bottom of my door. He told me that this would be easy with a table saw or even a hand saw, and that I could just lay the door on its side on a work table and saw it. I explained that I needed to saw the bottom inch off the door with the door still hung. He could not understand why I would want to do this. I don't think he believed me when I told him the story. Eventually, I left with a sawz-all, which did the trick though left the bottom of my door looking quite jagged. With an inch sawed off the bottom, I was able to pull the ladder through the gap below the door and then open the door.
I have kept a close eye on my roomba since.
posted by shshore at 1:10 PM on September 27, 2009 [14 favorites]
Last year, I turned it on in my kitchen and went upstairs. A few minutes later, I heard a loud clanging noise down in the kitchen. I returned to the kitchen to find part of the roomba (the part that holds the dirt it collects) laying limp on my kitchen floor. I could hear but not see the rest of the roomba.
I followed the sound of the whirring roomba to the half-bathroom adjacent to the kitchen. The bathroom door was closed, and I could hear the roomba going inside. Evidently, the roomba had bumped its way into the bathroom, navigated around the back of the bathroom door and then pushed it closed. (The door opens into the bathroom, not into the kitchen.) No problem. The bathroom has no lock, just a manual latch that the roomba would have to be about four feet taller (and with arms) to do anything about. Still, when I turned the handle on the bathroom door, I was unable to open the door more than a quarter inch.
Peering through the very small gap below the door, I figured out what was wrong. My spouse is not a tall person, and we have a folding step ladder that we keep near the kitchen in case she needs to reach top shelves. Of late, we had been keeping the step ladder propped up on the wall in our bathroom. The step ladder (folded up) is about three feet wide and one inch tall. The bathroom is three feet wide. The roomba knocked the ladder over so that it lay flat on the floor, and then pushed it into position to barricade the door closed.
So we tried everything. We took the handle off the door and tried to hang a hook made of coat hangers through it to pull the ladder out of position. We tried a lever to dislodge it through the gap below the door. We tried to use the fraction of an inch that we could open the door to put a hook through to catch the ladder. Nothing worked. We would have taken the door off its hinges, but the hinges were on the other side of the barricaded door. The bathroom has no windows or other ways in. We were screwed.
The solution came when I went to Home Depot. I told the sales associate that I needed to saw an inch off the bottom of my door. He told me that this would be easy with a table saw or even a hand saw, and that I could just lay the door on its side on a work table and saw it. I explained that I needed to saw the bottom inch off the door with the door still hung. He could not understand why I would want to do this. I don't think he believed me when I told him the story. Eventually, I left with a sawz-all, which did the trick though left the bottom of my door looking quite jagged. With an inch sawed off the bottom, I was able to pull the ladder through the gap below the door and then open the door.
I have kept a close eye on my roomba since.
posted by shshore at 1:10 PM on September 27, 2009 [14 favorites]
I miss my roomba. It went wonky just after the warranty ran out... it works for about 5 minutes, and then forgets how to move forward. Sending it to be repaired is prohibitively expensive, but it seems so wasteful to throw it away.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 2:03 PM on September 27, 2009
posted by sevenyearlurk at 2:03 PM on September 27, 2009
The Roombas with the markers drawing spirograph-like patterns on butcher paper are mine. I had a table at Maker Faire that showed a bunch of different Roomba hacks described in my book on Roomba hacking called Hacking Roomba (self link).
The cool thing about Roombas is iRobot, the company that makes them, gives out the details needed to communicate and control the Roomba(pdf). Every Roomba has a hidden serial port on it that you can hook up to a serial tether, a Bluetooth adapter, or a new brain using something like an Arduino.
And once you're done hacking it, you can just unplug from the Roomba's serial port and it returns acting like normal. No warranty voided.
posted by todbot at 8:02 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]
The cool thing about Roombas is iRobot, the company that makes them, gives out the details needed to communicate and control the Roomba(pdf). Every Roomba has a hidden serial port on it that you can hook up to a serial tether, a Bluetooth adapter, or a new brain using something like an Arduino.
And once you're done hacking it, you can just unplug from the Roomba's serial port and it returns acting like normal. No warranty voided.
posted by todbot at 8:02 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]
Cool! Now we know what's been making those crop circles.
posted by obol at 2:29 PM on September 28, 2009
posted by obol at 2:29 PM on September 28, 2009
How do these Roombas deal with the stray sock or business card, etc., that might be laying on the floor?
posted by Goofyy at 1:09 PM on September 29, 2009
posted by Goofyy at 1:09 PM on September 29, 2009
How do these Roombas deal with the stray sock or business card, etc., that might be laying on the floor?
Well, essentially, you can't have stray socks or business cards lying on the floor. You really need to be thorough and meticulous about getting that kind of stuff off your floor before you Roomba the room. That's the tradeoff for not having to vacuum the room yourself.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:43 PM on September 29, 2009
Well, essentially, you can't have stray socks or business cards lying on the floor. You really need to be thorough and meticulous about getting that kind of stuff off your floor before you Roomba the room. That's the tradeoff for not having to vacuum the room yourself.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:43 PM on September 29, 2009
I look at the floor
and I see it needs sweeping
Still, my keyboard, gently clicks.
Can't have stray stuff on the floor? Where else do you put stray stuff? Actually, I used to pick many things up with my right foot. Then I lost the full use of that knee. However, it is possible that the combination of Roomba and Scuuba might get me to do the bending over regularly. Or, delegate that task. Most of my floors here are polished granite, so the vac and mop would be fabulous. I'd hire a maid, but I hate the invasion.
posted by Goofyy at 9:04 PM on September 29, 2009
and I see it needs sweeping
Still, my keyboard, gently clicks.
Can't have stray stuff on the floor? Where else do you put stray stuff? Actually, I used to pick many things up with my right foot. Then I lost the full use of that knee. However, it is possible that the combination of Roomba and Scuuba might get me to do the bending over regularly. Or, delegate that task. Most of my floors here are polished granite, so the vac and mop would be fabulous. I'd hire a maid, but I hate the invasion.
posted by Goofyy at 9:04 PM on September 29, 2009
I had a lot of fun making mine and luckily had an empty room to work in
posted by maltorrance at 10:22 AM on September 30, 2009
posted by maltorrance at 10:22 AM on September 30, 2009
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(Kidding. Lovely shots.)
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:07 PM on September 26, 2009