INTRODUCTION

The Roomba is part of a line of consumer robots sold by the firm iRobot. It uses its sensors to clean and navigate in indoor spaces, making it an autonomous vacuum cleaner. The firm, iRobot, founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990 designated its goal to make robots a practical part in the everyday routine of consumers. It was invented by inventor Joe Jonas, who was then employed by the firm and then later put on the market in 2002. Jonas recalls his personal inconvenience of having to clean his room and incorporated the challenge into the task assigned by the firm. He recalls the firm’s “Robot Olympics” challenge, where they were given a set of parts and had to create a robot with them. Though the initial prototype did not fully function, the concept was still developed. Since then, Roomba has been designed and upgraded in a variety of ways. The Roomba Red is an upgraded model of the original, having arrived in the market in 2006. 

INTERIOR

From a surface level analysis, the Roomba Red is 13 inches in diameter and 3.5 inches tall. It is charged by a nickel metal hybrid battery (NiMH) and lasts 3 hours on full charge, needing 7 hours to recharge. It should be noted that the newer models have been able to decrease the charging time to 4 hours. It moves with 2 wheels, the power alternating between wheels. To function, it uses 5 motors in total are used to drive. They include: one motor per wheel, one motor for the vacuum itself, a motor for the spinning side brush and one motor for the agitator assembly. 

NAVIGATION

The Roomba functions by first measuring the size of the room when it is turned on. It does so by using the infrared receiver which is shown on the top of the device. The device reportedly sends out an infrared signal and calculates the time it takes to bounce back to the receiver; this is then used to calculate how long it would take to clean the room. The device is also equipped with other sensors as a precaution for environmental changes. For example, the vacuum has four cliff sensors, which are used to avoid sudden changes in elevation, such as stairs. The device knows of this because as it is operating it is also constantly sending out signals and waiting for them to bounce back to the four receivers and if one does not get a response, all signals are lost, and the device knows to avoid those areas. Another factor of navigation are the bumpers and object sensors. Upon colliding into something in the environment, the bumpers on the sides of the device retract which informs the object sensors that there are obstacles. This is followed by simple movements of rotations and calculations until it finds a clear path again.

Another sensor accompanied by the bumpers is the wall sensor. This sensor is especially used by the device to develop a consistent layout of the room with the best performance. Meaning, the Roomba can follow and clean closely along walls and furniture without coming in contact with them. And by doing so continuously, the device creates a layout of the room that allows most coverage. The infrared receiver is also used to find the self-charging pod or station. When the vacuum is low on battery power, it uses the infrared receiver to find signals omitted by the self-charger, which the device follows and attaches to, to charge. 

CLEANING

The most important aspect of the device is its ability to clean effectively. The device consists of a three-part cleaning system: the spinning side brush, the agitator, and the vacuum. The two dirt sensors are crucial for this system.  

Firstly, the spinning side brush assists the device by reaching under places that the main hardware is not able to reach. It functions by spinning along the walls of objects pushing the dirt underneath the device to the vacuum. While it does so, another brush opposite the spinning side brush makes sure captured dirt does not leave out of reach and keeps it under the device for the vacuum.

The second part of the system focuses on the agitator. The agitator is located underneath the device and is made up of counter-rotating brushes that have the function of a broom. Instead of pushing dirt towards the vacuum, the agitator directs any debris it touches into the dirt bin.

Lastly, the vacuum functions as any vacuum are known to, by drawing up the dirt as the device moves along. Much like other vacuums, with this device the dirt bin must be emptied once it is full, there is no indicator that informs the bin is full. As for the aforementioned dirt sensors, they are located directly above the agitator. Unlike the other sensors which work in a cycle with infrared signals, the dirt sensors are acoustic and impact. Meaning, when the agitator contacts a sizable number of debris, the dirt sensors vibrate against the metal to tell the device to not move along to a new area and to instead clean the current area again. The purpose of this function is to clean as effectively as possible much like humans would when seeing an abundant amount of dirt in a certain area.  

CONCLUSION

The Roomba Red is an example of the subtle advancement of modern technology. It is not complicated to use but it is convenient and practical, and its components are also understandable rather than complex. Much like the prototype of the earliest model it has kept true to the concept of functionality while being small. A breakdown of the components is enough to depict details that make up the device because there are few components to begin with. This is a growing trend and goal in modern innovations, being able to significantly provide in small sizes so that these devices can be practical and not an inconvenience to the consumer. 

REFERENCES 

History | iRobot. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://about.irobot.com/History 

Layton, J. (2020, June 5). How Robotic Vacuums Work. HowStuffWorks. https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/home/robotic-vacuum.htm 

Thomas Gounley, Springfield News-Leader. (2017, June 15). The inventor of the Roomba, a southwest Missouri native, is about to release a new robot. News-Leader. https://eu.news-leader.com/story/news/business/2017/06/09/inventor-roomba-southwest-missouri-native-release-new-robot/371868001/