Roomba 880 Review

The Roomba, the automated robot vacuum, is more than just a great idea — it's an inevitable one. As technology progresses, it just makes too much sense to relegate simple, menial tasks to automatons. I have no doubt that one day, most homes will have robot cleaners of various shapes and sizes performing all the thankless tasks that go hand-in-hand with maintaining a home.

On Tuesday, iRobot launched its new flagship Roomba 880, which promises to pick up more dirt, require less maintenance and run for longer periods than previous models. That sounds like progress, but is the Roomba any better at, you know, vacuuming like a human?

As a parent of young children and a Roomba newbie, I was excited to try out Roomba's latest model, which iRobot lent us for this review. I wasn't as interested in the Roomba's vacuum power as I was in how the robot would respond to toy clutter, floor mats and curious kids.

iRobot didn't upgrade the Roomba's navigation or artificial intelligence for this model; I guess the company figures it already cracked the code on getting around a typical home. The Roomba is also equipped to deal with obstacles, such as cables and small rugs ... theoretically.

In practice, the Roomba 880 struggled with a few obstacles in my apartment. And although it did a good job actually cleaning the floor, it wasn't perfect, missing a few spots here and there. In fairness, I probably would have, too, but my services don't cost $699.99.

Revving Up Roomba

Setting up the Roomba takes only the tiniest effort. iRobot does an excellent job making the robot pretty much ready to go out of the box. Just unpack, plug in the surprisingly small base station, pull off a couple of plastic tabs, and Roomba is good to go. The big button on top is impossible to miss, and if you never pick up the manual or quick-start guide, I'd wager most people would still be able to easily figure out the Roomba.

iRobot recommends putting Roomba's base station in an "open area" against a wall — something that's hard to come by in most New York City apartments (like mine). I ended up putting the Roomba in my dining area in the corner of the room I use the least. That was my first mistake, but more on that later.

As I mentioned, I have young children, and a good chunk of my floor is covered with thick floor mats that make life for my downstairs neighbors more bearable. When I first activated the Roomba, I thought those mats would give it a lot of trouble. The Roomba surprised and impressed me by traversing the thick mats easily, pulling itself up and over repeatedly, as it made its way around the room.

However, the Roomba had trouble getting back to home base once it was done. When the robot is done vacuuming the floor, it's supposed to return to its home base to recharge and await its next mission. It attempted this move repeatedly, but kept running into table and chair legs in my dining area.

Each time, after trying to get through the legs for a few seconds, it would give up and head back into the room for awhile. After about 20 minutes of this, I shut it off and put it back myself. (To be clear, there was physically enough room for the Roomba to fit through the legs — all it needed to do was navigate them successfully.)

To be fair, iRobot does recommend basing the Roomba in a clear area. For many in tight urban spaces, however, that's going to mean rearranging some things.

Sucking It Up

That wasn't the end of the Roomba's navigation difficulties. Although the Roomba is programmed to handle cord entanglements, it had serious problems freeing itself from a thick cable dangling from an outlet in the corner of the room. After enduring it banging around for a few minutes, I became concerned the robot might actually end up unplugging the cord accidentally, so I had to step in.

There was also the moment it encountered my daughter's baby gym, a large piece of fabric with plastic "arches" bent over the top. The fabric bottom wasn't as heavy as a rug, so the Roomba tried to suck it up, leading to my third intervention. In subsequent vacuums, I used a "virtual wall" — one of two baseball-size gadgets included in the box that you put on the floor to pen the Roomba inside an area — to keep it away from the baby gym.

On my third attempt to clean my floor without any help, I thought I'd mastered it. I decluttered the place, strategically put down virtual walls and repositioned the home base to a clearer area. I was so confident that I did what iRobot recommends, I let the robot run unattended.

It turned out I was overconfident. I came back home, totally expecting to find the Roomba back in its base and my floors clean. Instead I discovered an empty home base. My kids and I played an amusing "Where's the robot?" game for a couple of minutes until we discovered it trapped on the metal frame of my daughter's baby-bouncer chair. Apparently, it had tried and failed to free itself, and after a while, it just shut down.

Still, I'll give credit where credit's due: Despite its navigation difficulties, the Roomba did clean my floors pretty well; the new AeroForce cleaning system isn't pure hype, it seems. The robot missed a few spots, usually right next to the floor mats, but when it was finally able to clean the floors completely on its own (attempt number four), the Roomba 880 was a competent housekeeping substitute.

Dust to Dust

For some households — probably ones with more open space and older children — the Roomba 880 makes the most sense. For others, though, you'll probably need to tweak your room layout in some way, or perform some kind of decluttering ritual each time you use the robot (think flipping chairs up on top of a table).

In other words, you'll need to compromise. Yes, the cleaning robot that makes tedious maintenance a thing of the past is still a fantasy, at least until commercial AI gets much more sophisticated. But the Roomba is more than capable of cleaning floors, as long as you don't mind accommodating it. Whether or not that's a good deal depends greatly on where you live, and whether your lifestyle is robot-friendly.

The Lowdown

What's Good

A robot! That cleans your floors!

Cleans better than previous Roombas

What's Bad

Problems with obstacles

Noisy

Requires open area for base station

Bottom Line The Roomba 880 is a good vacuum-cleaner substitute, but it's harder to accommodate in some homes than others.

Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani