My new pet called Kirby
I just spent 20 minutes watching my new toy – the roomba 415 – cleaning the study. I’m truly amazed at how clever it is and how after 20 minutes of bumping around it sang a triumph song and declared the room clean. Yes, it miraculously picked up all the visible debris on the floor, even the ones lying near the edge of the room.
Terribly impressed am I, now I want to find out exactly how the algorithm works and how it maps out the room. I love it so much that I’m calling my new pet – Kirby.
Sure, it’s expensive: $399 from Courts (add $59 for 2 years extended warranty.) And it took 20 mins to clean a room, which I could have swept or vacuumed in 5 mins. But how can you put a price on such clever technology! I would like to think I’m paying it forward, as a homage to the clever people at irobot – a tad late but still … I particularly love it that they put a sticker inviting would be programmers to try out programming their roomba.
I’ve wanted this a few years back after I moved into my own place. Toyed with the idea of importing a set from the U.S. when I was there in ‘07 but didn’t because there was no warranty cover. Note: The local distributor mark-up is more than 100% – curse them! I finally took the plunge after my friends bought the same model and gave good vibes. Plus Liz Lemmon’s boyfriend Floyd recommended the roomba as a “quiet alternative” after Liz said that she has a vacuum cleaner phobia. (Confession: I watched the 10+ hour season 1 marathon of 30rock.) That and xkcd. Roomba, Eepc – my new toy last year – and python all in one comic. Wicked!
http://xkcd.com/413/
Sob sob. One of my biggest fear about Kirby was the battery life. After a successful clean, I left him in the room for two days and he was completely flat when I tried to wake him up for work. Recharging took almost one full day. Set him on my hall and he lasted not 45 min before he exhausted his juices. Bad sign.