Typically the living room is where we do all kinds of stuff, including eating. It is also where our pets spend most of their time leaving furs everywhere; this is why we need to vacuum frequently.
The Roomba navigates an area using responsive cleaning technology to map the room. It should be able to clean the whole house. All Roombas use the same technique. However, there are some with more advanced cleaning systems and more features than others. You need to understand your unit.
At the end of the day, your Roomba should clean your whole house without needing an intervention. However, there are a few things that can prevent your room from being Roomba friendly, before that we would like to explain a bit about how the device works.
Generally, all Roombas regardless of the feature operates similarly by moving across the rooms in the house. They use their sensors to detect significant obstacles and pick out dirt to give it an idea of where to clean. After this, it moves itself to a docking station to recharge.
Factors that Prevent the Roomba from Cleaning the whole House
In this Roomba article, we will consider the following factors.
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– Remove Clutter
The Roomba will aim to clean every reachable place, but typically, it is expected to bump into a few things to achieve that aim. When there are physical obstacles on the floor, the Roomba would even find it more difficult to reach certain rooms. Also, it is advisable to tidy away those items on the bathroom floor or dining areas as well as the rest of the house.
– Stairs and Permanent Floor Items
The design of the Roomba does not allow it to move up and downstairs. They can only climb over items not taller than 0.8 inches. Your Roomba may be unable to clean every room if your house is multi-level. Also, permanent floor items like furniture will hinder its movement. Moving them a few inches can make all the difference to the Roomba.
– Tidy up the Wires
In this modern age, it is avoidable to have wires everywhere cluttering the house including sound cables, lamp cables, TV wires and a lot more. Even if the Roomba has no problem with these cables, they could still get in the way and tangle the device making it hard to access certain areas in the house.
We suggest that if you have a bunch of cables, use cable ties to keep them together or cable shroud or trunking to lift them off the ground. With individual wires, you can use cable pins.
– Virtual Wall Sensors
The Roomba uses sensors to keep it from bumping into walls while cleaning. The main function of these sensors is to keep the device within certain boundaries using a Roomba. It functions by setting an invisible laser wall across the doorway. Removing these limits allows the Roomba to clean that room.
– Remove Water Threats
It is no longer news that electronics and water do not mix. The last thing you want is getting a pricey Roomba to see it get damaged from sucking up moisture from wet floors. If critical parts of the device like the sensors, electric motor, circuitry or vacuum come in contact with water, it may get damaged.
To avoid all these, keep all sorts of fluid off the path of the Roomba. Remove your pet’s drinking bowl, plant planters, pots or every other object that may contain water. Another way you can go about this is to use a no-go barrier virtual feature or use a physical, virtual wall device. It would beam an invisible infrared light barrier for the Roombas not to cross.
– Leave the Lights on
Some models of Roombas, including iRobot and Ecovacs Deebot models, rely on an optical sensor to move around. Once there is not enough ambient light, they have problems detecting obstacles and navigating through the rooms.
Especially if you prefer to do your cleaning at night, the Roomba will not access those dark rooms or sections in the house. It should clean the house even when no one is home, so if your Robot uses a sensory device that needs lights to operate efficiently, remember to turn on a light source before you leave.[/thrive_text_block]
How Does the Roomba work?
When you consider the Roomba, think of it like a vacuum cleaner with brains. It operates in a standard way, using brushes to dislodge dirt and vacuuming it as expected. The main difference is that it is self-directed.
If you have ever seen those Disney movies where a broom sweeps autonomously, the same principles apply here. Only that instead of myths and magic, it comes from programming and onboard sensors.
Regardless of the model, all Roombas use iAdapt technology to collect environmental data, map the house, adapt and navigate its areas. In other words, the navigation system creates a map of its own. The device calculates the size of the room using infrared signals and calculates the time it needs to rebound back to the infrared receiver from the wall.
Some models use a more advanced iAdapt technology that allows them to map out a place and store the information for future use. Some have inbuilt cameras to do their mapping, but will not store data, while others may not have mapping out abilities, but can save data from the environment. The latter is an older model that follows a set of rules to guide the cleaning, but will not have the capability of identifying the room.
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Conclusion
When it comes to high-end technology like the Roomba, you need to invest in the best one that is capable of cleaning your whole house. But before then, you should take a good look at the features that will allow it to achieve this aim.
You don’t need to move your Roombas from room to the next one for cleaning if you have a mapping system that can also store data and know the places to clean. You can get your Roomba to clean the whole house if you the right device and you have attended to these factors.