How To Give A Robot A Bath
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 10.17.07
Roomba the floor vacuuming robot was happy for most of the three years he'd worked in my kitchen. Toward the end of his first term on planet kitchen, however, he'd got himself pretty dodgey looking and liked to dance a little robot back-step on no provocation at all. At the end, he'd taken to jiggling from side to side on a short cleaning path and then would just blink out with some weird beep strings. Robot death.
No amount of on-line trouble shooting helped; so, I ordered up a new rechargeable battery, cleaned all the sensors, and lubricated the visible moving parts with a spray on silicone lube. To no avail.
He sounded happy for a few moments, thrilled with the new battery; but, he still couldn't clean around the individual chair legs like he'd done for years. Dog hair taunted him, hanging tight to the chair legs.
This was clearly a case of advanced robot arthritis. Internal servo-mechanical devices were unevenly filthied up, and rotor bushings plugged with greasy kitchen floor dust. Or was it some unique residue of Labrador Retriever? At any rate, Roomba was done for - off the team. No way was I going to send him back for an overhaul at his advanced age. A new one was around US$200; so, it was looking like I'd be back to my pre-Jetson brooming and chair shuffling.
There was one procedure left to try, however. Warning: this is a highly experimental procedure, and only recommended for post-bot support patients. (Customer service probably won't even acknowledge that it exists.)
I flipped over that flat-headed little vacuum, pulled out his battery, took off the dustbin portion (on the right of the photo) and blasted the hell out of him with a garden hose. Yes, I gave him a bath. Sprayed in every corner and crevice I could reach with the fastest water stream I could muster. I got soaked too.
He looked good, though. After the robot's bath, I put him in the sun for three days, occasionally rotating his position.
When he seemed dry, I brought him back in the house and lubed up the roller bushings I could see with more silicone spray, and let him be for a few more days. Then I dropped in the fully charged battery and you know what? He worked perfectly. Just like the old days. We're a team again.
Robot reincarnation by bathing. Now that's what I call recycling.
I've heard this done with a keyboard too. It seems water and electronics aren't mutually exclusive...
How is this in treehugger? Using a robot to clean your floors when a broom and mop are all that is needed.
Water + Electricity = Bad but with battery removed, cord unplugged there is no Electricity so can add water. I've seen a few cell phones take a bath and came back to service once dried.
"How is this in treehugger? Using a robot to clean your floors when a broom and mop are all that is needed. "
If you don't have one, buying one isn't treehugger.
But if you already have one, keeping it in good working order certainly is better than throwing it away.
=== author's response follows ===
Thanks for helping clarify.
The big picture from this post - and comments so far underscore it - is that most any servo-mechanical device that has failed due to dirt and grime stand a chance at reincarnation by water.
I'm seriously tempted to buy a couple more broken down ones from eBay and set them loose elsewhere in the house.
I understand the idea that broom and mop are ecological and vacumn cleaners aren't. I have lived that motto for many years. My wife and I clean our house tile floolrs with broom and mop exclusively. However, we did recently buy a small rechargeable hand-held cleaner for small cleanup jobs in difficult places. My wife did mention that maybe we should consider buying a floor vacumn cleaner, but we decided that it simply was a waste of energy at this point. The interior of our house is only some 100m2, so it really isn't much work to occassionally sweep and mop the floor. However, even though I currently consider it a waste of energy, I expect that in a few years, when I am much more busy growing vegetables and fruits and raising chickens, rabbits, etc. and have to take care of small businesses, I will not have the time nor patience for floor cleaning - and neither will my wife. Considering that I get all my electrical energy from my renewable energy system, and I usually have some to spare, a Roomba will come in handy and won't be unenvironmental. I will need it, and it will be powered by wind and sun - and in future microhydro too. But I don't need it yet, so the mop and broom still have a number of years of service.