In article , Capitol
writes
Hi, Not quite diy, but maybe of interest. In a moment of absolute
folly, she persuaded me to buy her a Roomba whilst we were in the US
and bring it back. These things are tiny (14" dia x 3" tall) and are
sold to sweep and vacuum up the dust on smooth floors only. The battery
life is 30 - 90 minutes, depending on whether the floor is smooth or
short pile carpeted(30 min). Recharge time is 12 hrs- ouch. The robot
program is extremely dim, so it charges all the stool legs and
furniture, but interestingly enough, it so far copes brilliantly with
the kitchen carpet tiles and short pile carpet. She reckons that her
kitchen has never been so well swept! ( so much for my efforts!!) It
will be interesting to see how long it lasts, the consumer life reports
were a bit iffy, but at the moment it does give one a glow of
satisfaction to sit there eating lunch whilst it cleans up the crumbs!!
It also does have a tendency to make a bid for freedom if you forget to
close the kitchen door before turning it loose. I wonder how domestic
animals would cope with it?

The way it charges under low tables is very impressive, as is the edge
cleaning performance. I do wonder how many essential lost screws it has
consumed.
Has anybody else much experience of these things in the UK?

What does it do with the dirt? I presume you have to empty it once it's
finished, or does it go to the bin and empty itself?!

I've always fancied one of those automatic lawnmowers, but the way the
advert vaguely dismisses how the grass cuttings are disposed of does not
encourage me.
--
Tim Mitchell