Espy and the Roomba

I finally broke down and bought a Roomba (automatic vacuum). The first
thing I have to do is find a clear spot against a wall, plug in the
docking station, and let the Roomba charge for 16 hours or so. Once it
starts charging, you aren't supposed to do anything with it until it's
done.

No more than five minutes after it starts charging, I hear a tinkling
sound. Espy has pressed the start button and the Roomba is heading off
across the floor. I put it back in the docking station. Espy starts it
up again. I move it under a low chair so Espy can't get at it.

I predict tough times ahead for the Roomba.

"dgk" wrote in message
...
I finally broke down and bought a Roomba (automatic vacuum). The first
thing I have to do is find a clear spot against a wall, plug in the
docking station, and let the Roomba charge for 16 hours or so. Once it
starts charging, you aren't supposed to do anything with it until it's
done.

No more than five minutes after it starts charging, I hear a tinkling
sound. Espy has pressed the start button and the Roomba is heading off
across the floor. I put it back in the docking station. Espy starts it
up again. I move it under a low chair so Espy can't get at it.

I predict tough times ahead for the Roomba.

HAHAHA!!!

That is really cute ;-)

In article ,
says...
I finally broke down and bought a Roomba (automatic vacuum). The first
thing I have to do is find a clear spot against a wall, plug in the
docking station, and let the Roomba charge for 16 hours or so. Once it
starts charging, you aren't supposed to do anything with it until it's
done.

No more than five minutes after it starts charging, I hear a tinkling
sound. Espy has pressed the start button and the Roomba is heading off
across the floor. I put it back in the docking station. Espy starts it
up again. I move it under a low chair so Espy can't get at it.

I predict tough times ahead for the Roomba.


Congratulations on purchashing what will become a $300 cat toy. I don't
know if they still make them but those little Zip-Zap cars were
favorites of my cats.

On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:25:55 -0500, T
wrote:

In article ,
says...
I finally broke down and bought a Roomba (automatic vacuum). The first
thing I have to do is find a clear spot against a wall, plug in the
docking station, and let the Roomba charge for 16 hours or so. Once it
starts charging, you aren't supposed to do anything with it until it's
done.

No more than five minutes after it starts charging, I hear a tinkling
sound. Espy has pressed the start button and the Roomba is heading off
across the floor. I put it back in the docking station. Espy starts it
up again. I move it under a low chair so Espy can't get at it.

I predict tough times ahead for the Roomba.


Congratulations on purchashing what will become a $300 cat toy. I don't
know if they still make them but those little Zip-Zap cars were
favorites of my cats.

No no, it was something like $120 from Woot. A refurb. Still, more
expensive than the Panic Mouse.

On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:43:04 -0800 (PST), hopitus
wrote:

On Feb 27, 5:47 am, dgk wrote:
I finally broke down and bought a Roomba (automatic vacuum). The first
thing I have to do is find a clear spot against a wall, plug in the
docking station, and let the Roomba charge for 16 hours or so. Once it
starts charging, you aren't supposed to do anything with it until it's
done.

No more than five minutes after it starts charging, I hear a tinkling
sound. Espy has pressed the start button and the Roomba is heading off
across the floor. I put it back in the docking station. Espy starts it
up again. I move it under a low chair so Espy can't get at it.

I predict tough times ahead for the Roomba.

All of my cats are terrified of an iRobot (Rooma-type) vac I rarely
use.
It was a gift. The only other item that generates more "quick-hide-
under-
our-usual-safe-harbor-bed" action is the much noisier "Animal" model
Dyson, which the very sight of it coming out of its closet home will
cause instant cat-shortage nearby. I love the Dyson, a quality machine
indeed (bless that genius English dude) and its talent for ripping cat
fur out of the carpet, but I can't see my cats *ever* playing with
either one.


Day one is over and the Roomba has emerged triumphant. It cleaned the
dining room while Espy tried to emulate a large piece of cat hair,
quite well actually. The Roomba chased him around, Espy occasionally
offering a counter-attack. Finally he just got out of the way and
watched it.

Nipsy and Marlo watched from the safety of the living room. I didn't
use the virtual walls though, lacking the requisite number of "D"
cells. I just put a few things in the way to block Roomba from
entering the dining room, such as some of their scratching posts. I
went off to a community meeting (topic: how to challenge your property
assessment - short answer: don't bother) and when I came back, Roomba
had returned to its home and was happily recharging.

I felt comfortable enough to start it up this morning and let it clean
the dining room while I headed off to work. Having appropriated some
rechargeable "D" cells, I'll put Roomba in the living room tonight and
see how it does in a more hectic area.

Oddly enough, and without any commercial involvment on my part, today
www.woot.com is offering the same model that I bought for the same
price ($100 with shipping). It really does seem like a good toy for
someone who hates both dust and vacuuming, and has cats. I might pick
up another one for upstaris. I really haven't read a bad review, which
is why I finally broke down and got one.

"dgk" wrote
Day one is over and the Roomba has emerged triumphant. It cleaned the
dining room while Espy tried to emulate a large piece of cat hair,
quite well actually. The Roomba chased him around, Espy occasionally
offering a counter-attack. Finally he just got out of the way and
watched it.


Oh come on now, you KNOW you need to vid this!

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:43:51 -0500, "cybercat"
wrote:


"dgk" wrote
Day one is over and the Roomba has emerged triumphant. It cleaned the
dining room while Espy tried to emulate a large piece of cat hair,
quite well actually. The Roomba chased him around, Espy occasionally
offering a counter-attack. Finally he just got out of the way and
watched it.


Oh come on now, you KNOW you need to vid this!


I don't really have a decent video camera. But just thinking about it
made me figure that someone must have a cat/roomba vid on the web, and
sure enough:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoGQE0u1P9E

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/ro...cat/2772581724

http://www.truveo.com/Keilani-versus...a/id/925254071

That last one is a kid, not a cat, but the outcome is the same.

I can't see UTube from work but there are probably quite a few similar
videos.

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:43:21 -0500 from dgk :
Oddly enough, and without any commercial involvment on my part, today
www.woot.com is offering the same model that I bought for the same
price ($100 with shipping). It really does seem like a good toy for
someone who hates both dust and vacuuming, and has cats. I might pick
up another one for upstaris. I really haven't read a bad review, which
is why I finally broke down and got one.

It's just for bare floor, right? I have carpeting on maybe 3/4 or an
inch of padding; only the edges of the rooms are bare floor.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:31:21 -0500, Stan Brown
wrote:

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:43:21 -0500 from dgk :
Oddly enough, and without any commercial involvment on my part, today
www.woot.com is offering the same model that I bought for the same
price ($100 with shipping). It really does seem like a good toy for
someone who hates both dust and vacuuming, and has cats. I might pick
up another one for upstaris. I really haven't read a bad review, which
is why I finally broke down and got one.

It's just for bare floor, right? I have carpeting on maybe 3/4 or an
inch of padding; only the edges of the rooms are bare floor.

No, they're for carpeting too, just not shag. I have no experience
with them on a carpet, but I've read that they're ok. They can even
shift from one surface to another.

I did buy a second one before Woot sold out yesterday.

It's going to make us change the way the house is though. More stuff
must find a permanent home on the shelves or find its way to the curb.
The floor must be cleared for Roomba.

I let it loose in the living room yesterday. Espy still chased it
around. Marlo finally got comfortable enough to walk near it. Nipsy
(the wuss) came down the stairs and watched from the landing. It did
get stuck under the couch once. The couch separates the living room
from a small area where I tend to keep too much stuff on the floor,
and Roomba got stuck between a couch leg and some paper for recycling.
I need to clean that area up too.

Anything that forces us to get crap off the floor is good.