Signaltheorist did something really neat with a new Roomba he got. He shut off all of the lights in his room for 30 minutes and captured a long exposure of the path that the Roomba makes when it goes about cleaning the area. The resulting photo is a mess of circles and lines that somewhat resemble flight paths. I wonder what the paths would look like in a bigger room. I should get our Roomba out and see.
our roomba’s battery won’t last 30 minutes…which sorta reminds me to look for a new battery.
check out the perfect spiral in the center of the pattern
So wierd!
the spiral is probably from its starting point.
Mine is starting to have the same problem. They sell a new upgraded battery now though: http://store.irobot.com/cart/index.jsp
Looks like a bubble chamber image: http://www.pd.infn.it/~dorigo/bubblechamber2.jpg
geez, u think it got everything?
I was drawn right away to the spiral…. Golden Spirals are elements of Sacred Geometry so even in the randomness there is beauty in form and purpose of a higher order in the simple Roomba. Pi is also a golden spiral. It’s both abstract Nature and Chaotic Mathematics. Would like to see the pattern made in a much larger room. My house is too small for one of these. Thanks for doing!
Linda.
That’s amazng!! Someone needs to create a website where people can post these mages. That site should include a How-To for taking these types of pictutres.. possibly with a cheap webcam
Looks like the Roomba likes the Dreamcast.
It’s thinking.
Nice. The spiral would be where the Roomba started. The first thing it does is spiral outwards.
That perfect spiral in the middle is the strangest part, quite eerie!
Yeah, gotta love that spiral. It reminds me of the fractals that were popular in the nineties, except this looks a lot better. Roomba artwork.
When you start a roomba it goes in a spiral until it hits an object then it just goes randomly back and forth.. so there’s nothing special in that spiral, that’s how Roomba’s are programmed.
Put a roomba in a giant space with no walls and it will create a spiral forever (or until the batteries die)
Music background recomendation – Yakety Sax / Theme from Benny Hill
It would be nice if someone makes a video with a song of Benny Hill xD
Looks like the most lines cross at the ‘center of mass’ of the carpeted area. New use for roomba….physics homework!!!
What? Center of mass of the carpet?
Just think of all the wasted energy that machine uses, over it’;s lifetime, going over the same area of rug over and over again, vs fat, lazy a$$ americans, who pay money to go to a gym to get a ‘workout’, but wont’ take the minute of time, and slight bit of exercise to actually walk and vacuum.
More examples of what is wrong with the U.S.
I wonder how much power the Roomba uses in the half-hour or so it takes it to thoroughly clean a room, versus how much power a standard 120-volt, 12-amp vacuum cleaner would use when pushed around by a human being for, say, 10 minutes.
Would the Roomba come out ahead, or would it be more energy efficient to use the big vacuum cleaner?
According to an article in The Seattle Times in 2005, “some 1.2 million of the disc-shaped robotic housekeepers have been sold in 25 countries in the past 2-1/2 years.”
(source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002292804_btirobot30.html)
It would appear there are twenty-four other countries in which people pay money to go to a gym to et a ‘workout,” but won’t take a minute of time, and slight bit of exercise to actually walk and vacuum. I wonder if your country is one of them? :)
A Roomba does not thoroughly clean a carpet. Sure, it’ll pick up little scraps of paper and such…
As far as energy usage is concerned, the Roomba stays on charge, which draws power, for many hours. I think it would be an interesting comparison to see how much power is saved/wasted in a 12×12 room using the Roomba versus a standard vacuum cleaner! How often does one typically have to replace the battery in a Roomba? How long does a typical vacuum cleaner last? Answering the “overall” energy question is not so easy!
How about a Roomba that has a “winder” so that all you have to do is wind it up to charge the battery, kind-of like those emergency flashlights? That’d get you a little exercise! :-)
Sitting on the bed and watching the process would have worked too.
Hey Go Green, way to find a way to work your hatred of Americans into everything and anything you read. Speaking of wasted energy, what positive things could you be doing with the energy you spend on hating?
I have two dogs, two cats, and two herniated lumbar discs. When you live in pain 24/7, something like a little robot that can help keep the floors up is nothing short of merciful.
That is a great picture. For those looking to buy a replacement battery, check out ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/iRobot-Roomba-400-series-APS-Battery-4905-NIMH-3-3Ah_W0QQitemZ260428515167QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca2bfc75f&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
I got one from them, and now my Roomba runs for over an hour over carpet and tile floors. Great way to keep the old girl alive.