she fights like an old lady, and ROBOT DOMINATION

[rmd]

link via drwex.
65 year old woman beats a mountain lion with a log

meanwhile... I, FOR ONE, WELCOME OUR ROBOT OVERLORDS (did i say overlords? i meant protectors[*])

so, cz_unit had been raving about his various household robots. and then woot had a sale on the irobot dirt dog. (it's not actually a vacuum, but a sweeper designed for basements and garages and such. and one task that i never quite manage to stay ahead of is fighting insect and dust entropy in the basement.) so i ordered it and it arrived and i tried tossing it in the bathroom and it picked up a remarkable amount of cat litter and dust, so i was impressed. i've been letting it have its way with parts of the basement, figuring out what it can and can't pick up or work around. sawdust and small concrete chips are no problem. bigger woodchips can be a problem, if they're the right size to get wedged in the brushes. and it just works around larger pieces. all in all, i'm liking it.

and then i ordered the scooba-with-roomba package for my parents because they had heard good things about the scooba, and another for myself. they've got their scooba and roomba and it's rocking their world. i have my scooba, but apparently the roomba is backordered.

so i can't speak for the roomba, personally, but holy crap, the scooba is awesome. i hate mopping. it's one of those household tasks i really would rather outsource. this thing makes it trivial to do -- pick up large stuff (the odd pencil, cat dishes, etc), fill the "clean" tank, set it down, push "go", and then come back in an hour or so and the floor is way clean. rinsing out the dirty tank and pulling the brushes off to clean them afterwards is pretty trivial.

i fired up the scooba the other morning and let it do it's thing while i puttered around and showered and got ready for work. no problem.

the tile floor of the bathroom is cleaner now than it has been, i think, since i moved in here. possibly before that. for some reason, presumably a function of how long and narrow the bathroom is, the scooba left a border of scary fluid it failed to vacuum back up after scrubbing, but i just dropped a couple of towels on the floor and used my feet to stomp around and that dealt with that.

the cats are kind of terrified, but they make half the mess, so fuck 'em. i expect they'll be even more freaked out about the roomba when it arrives as it'll chase them under the couch. otoh, i've been afraid to see what kind of hairy dust-buffalos have accumulated under the futon couch thanks to cat hair and clauclauclaudia hair.

so, yeah, robots good. yay robots!

[*] context: j. coulton's "merry christmas from chiron beta prime"

Comments

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

the cats are kind of terrified, but they make half the mess, so fuck 'em.

Only half? Jeeze. Your cats are underachievers.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

Now you need a Lego Mindstorms robot to follow the Dirt Dog around, pick up the bits that cause it problems, put them in a little trailer, and dump them in a bin when the Dirt Dog recharges,

[cz_unit]

Yeah, Alex totally loves the Scooba. We toss it in the kitchen, come back an hour later and it's beautiful.

The Roomba is very interesting: Not only does it clean, but it really keeps things from getting dirty. I run it downstairs on a automatic daily schedule and the floor is just really nice. Also the dust level is way down because it's picking up the crud before it can build up places.

Sounds corny, but it really has changed my life. I ordered another one for upstairs; how did we live without it?

CZ

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

wow. given this glowing review, i'd say that the scooba and roomba are next up on my list of things-to-buy-when-i-have-paid-off-my-student-loans. I hate mopping so the scooba sounds like a BIG win.

[wren13.livejournal.com]

Watch the brushes on your roomba - they tend to get clogged with dust dinosaurs relatively quickly.

[dlevy.livejournal.com]

I have serious cleaning-robot envy.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a Scooba sounds like it might even manage to clean our dingy kitchen floor!

[cz_unit]

One thing that is nice is it will not judge you. You expect it to say "fuck it" and head for the door, but it grinds away....

CZ

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah, i've been making a point to clean them pretty well. the claudia-hair has mighty twisting clogging powers.

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the robot reviews. I also hate mopping and am thinking a bit about a Scooba. Do you need to sweep before hand, or can it deal with some crap on the floor? I understand needing to pick up pencils, toys & small children before mopping, but do you think it can handle some food on the floor?

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

Did you order the "For Pets" version of your Roomba? It was meant to deal with cat and dog hair, but it's apparently easier to maintain for long people-hair as well.

Should your new machines suffer from some mechanical form of infant failure, please be patient with customer support. They're overwhelmed (what with the Xmas season just past), are having mucho problems hiring overflow staff, and already know that this is a problem.

But likewise, my parents love the Roomba I got them for Xmas. My dad spends too much time trying to reverse-engineer the navigation algorithm.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i did not order a for-pets roomba. i got (or, you know, allegedly will get once they're off back-order) the free 401 that comes with the scooba. if i get a separate one, i'm planning on getting a for-pets version.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

My dad spends too much time trying to reverse-engineer the navigation algorithm.

i spent a lot of time in my basement watching the dirt dog go thru it's navigation paces this afternoon, actually. mostly i was watching to see how it dealt with random cruft on the floor, but i was also having fun guessing which way it would go next.

in addition to skins, y'all should sell googly eyes to stick on the front bumpers

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

"Now only $299!"

That's fucking obscene.

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

Last Hallowe'en, a cow orker was handling out pairs of googly eyes in small ziploc bags with the label "iRobot Personality Kit".

[cz_unit]

But it fills your life with joy!

CZ

[evwhore.livejournal.com]

Hmm, this has me seriously considering these, esp. as I basically don't clean on my own. I'm also curious to see how amusing the cat's reaction will be.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I paid $500 for my Dyson vacuum cleaner, and while it sucks up everything in its path better than anything else I've ever encountered, it doesn't actively chase cats.

I can definitely see paying $299 for a nice smart cat chaser that also vacuums. Of course, my cat, Laptop, would likely just sit on top of the Roomba and be done with it.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Good thing, too...I'd hate for anyone to judge us based on the state of our floors. :)

[flabosib.livejournal.com]

That is actually very helpful to hear--our household keeps talking about getting the robots. Do let me know if the cats get used to them or if they continue to freak. Our cats are, alas, more highly strung than your beasties, so that would be a problem.

If you can, call me some night this week. I have a request from Philadelphia that I need to pass on to you "in person"--I've been told the phone would do, but email would not.

Hugs,
M