In recent times, vacuum-cleaning has ceased to be a chore. With the wide array of state-of-the-art vacuum cleaners available today, you are promised a pleasurable cleaning experience, that's not only hassle-free but highly efficient. Talking about these state-of-the-art cleaning technologies, The Roomba is one that sits at the upper echelon. 

The makers of the Roomba, iRobot, keep reinventing their automated cleaning machines that not only does it offer basic cleaning functions but also help make living easier for you. In this article, we will be discussing all things Roomba, from the brilliant features, advantages to Roomba Programming.

1. Programming Wireless Connectivity

This added feature to the recent models of Roomba makes the operation more seamless than it's usually attainable. Now you can simply program your Roomba cleaning device from your phone or tablet via an app. Very hassle-free and impressive addition if you ask me.

Most likely, the question on your mind at this point would be, Can programme the Roomba to connect Android, CH Play, iPhone, or Laptop? Of course, Yes. With the iRobot app, which is particularly used for controlling the Roomba, you can connect the Roomba to a wide range of devices including iPhones, Android, and even Laptops too.

2. Can You Navigate The Roomba?

The Roomba wasn't just created to be a vacuum cleaner. It was recreated to be more than a cleaning device. To become that reliable housemate that you can bank on to make your living easier and more hassle-free. And as such, it comes with programs that could be explored to make it smarter, conscious, and more human. Interestingly, the producers encourage programmers and tech-savvy people to have a field day tweaking and modifying their Roomba to taste.

You have no idea how exciting it is to discover that the Roomba comes with a full set of commands - named, ROI 500 or Roomba Open Interface 500. These set of commands helps you navigate the device with a Bluetooth device or a microcontroller. Amazing, right?

2.1. The Infrared Sensor

At the top of the Roomba are the photocell sensor and infrared sensor rightly positioned, while slightly underneath, there is a plastic front bumper with sensors too. The infrared beam helps to act as the eyes of the Roomba by notifying it of obstacles in view and triggers it to slow down as it comes close. The plastic front bumper helps in halting the Roomba when it actually stumbles upon things

2.2. The Piezoelectric Sensor

There is also another key sensor that helps trigger a cleaning function when the Roomba hits the dirt. It is called the piezoelectric sensor. What this sensor does is basically generate impulses and trigger the "dirt detect" whenever the sensor hits a dirt patch. Automatically, the machine on encountering that dirt patch will slowly and thoroughly clean that area

2.3. Mapping

With the early invention of Roomba vacuum cleaners, what we got was a random cleaning experience where the robots clean haphazardly because they are not familiar with the environment. With recent inventions like the Roomba 980, they clean with a more structured approach called the VSLAM ( Vision Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping).

Essentially, how they work is that they come with infrared cameras that help take images of your space and store. Thereby building a memory of what your space looks like and have a more ordered way with which they navigate cleaning around your space. With this, as opposed to the previous models where cleaning is slow because of how unfamiliar the cleaners are with the environment, this comes with a difference and makes the cleaning operation faster than it used to be.

3. Auto Battery Charging Program

The Roomba is so smart that it detects when the battery is low and returns to the Homebase to recharge. This could happen in the middle of a cleaning operation when the battery is running low or at the end of a cleaning operation.

4. Fetch Things From The Fridge

Associated with the Roomba navigation. There are add-ons that allow your machine to operate on varying levels, which one of them is being able to help fetch things from the fridge and some other functions.

At this point, you may ask: What are add-ons? Among the flurry of add-ons currently available, one of them is an ultra soft bumper. This addon allows your Roomba glide along with your chairs and walls, in a fluid, sleek movement without leaving a scratch or making any unwarranted noise whatsoever. You can find this particular addon on Amazon at just a little below $20. Very affordable and equally not expensive to install.

5. Programming Roomba Cuss Out When Hitting Something

The programmer can handle its programming and the specific functions they want their Roomba to exhibit. There is a video on YouTube where someone tweaked his Roomba to cuss out anytime it hits something while operating; you can imagine how fun and hilarious that would be. Basically, how this works is that he tweaked the Roomba with a Raspberry Pi, this enables the machine to detect collisions and play a sound from the Bluetooth speaker for each time this occurs.

6. Can You Teach Your Roomba To Love?

Then, there's an open possibility of you programming your machine to have feelings, like love. With the use of Raspberry PI connected to your Roomba, you could build a more stable work relationship with your Roomba by setting it up in such a way that it recognizes your voice and your commands. This way, all you have to do is tell your Roomba what to do and it does it. Amazing right?

The web is rife with a lot of these tweaks, hacks that make your Roomba even smarter. I have read somewhere where someone uses Python to control the Roomba to perform facial recognition. With all these amazing features that are making your Roomba portray human functions, there is every tendency of it being built to love too as it is attainable with humans.

In a study published in Forbes, it is strongly supported that robots could elicit feelings, that they could be angry and sad. And use their different motions to figure out the mood of the robot. It is opined that robots that operate at moderate speed show a sign that they are happy while robots that operate haphazardly and grumpily show that the robot is sad or angry. This is a testament to the fact that a robot can be tweaked to elicit feelings such as love and it will only be a function of programming.

7. Hacking The Roomba Speed

With programming, virtually everything is possible. I stumbled upon a video where someone out if curiosity tried to tweak the speed of the Roomba and see if it can operate a little faster than it usually does. Basically, what he did was tweak his 10 year old Roomba Discovery 4210 and made it work twice as fast as it normally does. Funny enough, he was successful with it, designing one of the fastest vacuum cleaners you can find around. Picture your vacuum cleaner speeding at such maximum speed, what do you think of it? Though this raised lots of concerns about the fact that working at such speed might not make the Roomba work at its best, it still doesn't refute the fact that having to work twice as fast may make your cleaning take a shorter time to finish up - which is such a welcome development.

Also, if your Roomba were to be operating at a very slow speed, you stand more to gain from this programming hack.

8. How Do You Know Roomba's Intelligence Level?

So far, no one has done the honours of checking how the EQ or the IQ of the Roomba and there are no figures are backing it. Though, considering the way it is designed, there is no questioning that among other vacuum cleaners, the Roomba is like the smartest in the room. And I am pretty sure whenever someone checks for the IQ level, it will be through the roof as expected.

While most people use the fact that the Roomba has a high susceptibility to be affected by clusters, so long as your space is not clustered with a lot of obstructing objects you can be confident to leave it to operate on its own without needing to supervise.

Conclusion

The Roomba is everything progressive and advanced as opposed to what is attainable with all other vacuum cleaners. When you purchase the Roomba, you are not just buying a vacuum cleaner, you are purchasing something more and with all discussed so far, you must have seen my point.