Roombaway

So I just bought a roomba.

As a terminally lazy bugger I have to say it far outperforms my expectations.

It's particularly effective in the small rooms that constitute my abode, even with the density of furniture present.  Given that I can barely navigate my tiny living space without stubbing a toe, that's no mean feat.

I wouldn't recommend using it when you're in the room, not least because it's pretty thick and will drive into your legs constantly, but also because of the noise.  It's not as loud as a normal vacuum, but the constant whine of its motors and the spinning doohicky that sweeps stuff into the hoovering part are both annoying sounds.  Not to mention the fact that it constantly rolls in and out of earshot, and quite often crops up when you're least expecting it.

Aesthetically it's uninspiring, but as a utilitarian object it's fine.  I have never been one to care about how an implement looks, and I'm not going to start caring now.

I don't know how many terraatorrs of vacuum it can generate, but it's pretty damned effective at picking up the daily detritus that I couldn't be bothered to.  There are noticeably fewer dusty spots, and it no longer feels like walking over gravel when I take my socks off.

Anecdotally I would say its pretty damned useful.  It's not going to eliminate all the work I'll need to do, but it's filling in pretty damned nicely so far.

I have one major gripe, and that's the things distinct lack of intelligence.

The high end models are just now starting to include cameras and lasers to map out rooms, and they will devise effective strategies for cleaning based on the maps they make.  The cleaners capable of this are about 400gbp above my price range, and this basic one took a long time to save for already.  There are modders out there who have been adding this functionality to their roombas for three or four years at this point, so why isn't this a standard feature?

Obviously it's not a standard feature because the manufacturers can incrementally roll out smarter and smarter devices that people have to upgrade to every year, just like iphones (and soon, gaming consoles) but it's pretty galling to know the tech, software and manufacturing processes are already available.

Then again that gives the NSA another direct feed of your life, as if they needed another.