What if you had a vacuum cleaner that not only cleans up your mess, but also disposes the waste into the bin and even charges itself, all on its own? What would have been a dream is now reality thanks to the creators at iRobot. The Roomba i7+ is the product of perfect amalgamation between conventional cleaning and artificial intelligence. It is a luxury vacuum cleaner equipped with an automatic waste disposal system called Clean Base. The added luxury though comes with a price (Rs. 89,900 on Amazon.in when the article was being written).
For the tech savvy homeowners out there, the iRobot Roomba i7+ is certainly worth the buy. The Roomba i7+ is controlled via the iRobot app on both iOS and Android. Setting up the connection is quite easy. The app detects and connects the Roomba i7+ quite seamlessly. Once the setup is done, you can choose to have the cleaner map out your house by doing a 'Training run'. The Roomba i7+ does require 2-3 runs before it can get a clear picture of your floor plan. You can see that area mapped out by the cleaner on your phone. Once it has mapped out your entire floor, you can give each room a name and have the Roomba i7+ clean specific rooms when required. The 'Training run' only makes the cleaner map out your floor area. Not only doesn it clean, but it can also clean and map simultaneously if you choose to do so.
The Roomba i7+'s vSLAM navigation technology captures over 2,30,400 data points per second, making it easy to remember where it has been. This comes in handy especially when the cleaner is about to run out of juice or has to transfer the collected dust and other waste onto the Clean Base. The cleaner pauses and goes back to its charging dock, and once it is done charging or transferring the waste, it is able to go back to the spot where it left off and resume cleaning.
The Roomba i7+ uses a back and forth motion along a virtual straight line when it cleans. It goes the length of its cleaning path until interrupted by a wall and then shifts its position slightly to clean a new grid. If the cleaner hits a table or chair leg, it carefully winds itself around the leg to continue cleaning. Its AI powered system lets it understand whether the object in its path is a wall or any object that it can clean by going around. This is quite handy and advanced as compared to other robot vacuum cleaners. The three-spoke cleaning brush that protrudes outside off the Roomba i7+'s path helps in sweeping in dust and other particles that gets sucked in by the powerful suction brush.
The iRobot Roomba i7+ is ahead of its peers in terms of providing comfort and convenience. But at the same time certain things can heckle you. The process of transferring dust into the Clean Base is quite noisy, much like a jet take-off. Also, factor in the amount of time the Roomba i7+ takes to clean the room, you might wonder if it was just easier to clean it manually by using a hand-held vacuum cleaner instead. If you have a relatively small room with enough objects cramming the space, the Roomba i7+ will be rendered quite ineffective.
Having said all this, the factors mentioned above aren't serious concerns for those who would look at buying an intelligent vacuum cleaner. The iRobot Roomba i7+ is everything that the company has claimed it is―an intelligent vacuum cleaner that will clean and dispose off the dirt on its own without you having to spare a thought!