This is a pretty cool shot from the SignalTheorist, long exposure in the dark, tracking the Roomba light and cleaning path.
I had a Roomba a few years ago, purchased on a whim from Woot at a pretty good rate. It was pretty sweet for several months, taking care of a good percentage of the dust, cat hair and crumbs and other crap on our hardwood and tile floors. It even handled itself pretty well on the hallway carpet.
Over time, however, the brushes (though cleaned fairly often) stopped working as well, the sucking power waned, and the battery started fading faster than my iPhone’s. Finally, the damn thing just up and died. The light would come on like it was charging, but it never kept a charge, and I put it to rest at Goodwill.
One year with Roomba = fun experiment, but in reality, $100+ down the drain. We had our other vacuum for 5 years before it kicked it, and it was only $90.
We now use a $25 Shark 2-in-1 for our hardwoods. It requires a little manual labor, but saves time (and curse words) because it used to take me an hour to clean the damn Roomba brushes!
(via Mike, who also had a failed Roomba experiment)
