Robot Add-Ons Fix All Of Your Roomba’s Issues, Almost

As much as I love my Roomba, I’m under no illusions as to the scope of its autonomous capabilities. In order for Roomba to clean unsupervised, I have to do a lot of prep work at home, moving furniture and carpets and cords and stuff. A company called Robot Add-Ons, founded by a couple of guys from iRobot itself, has come up with a bunch of cheap and easy ways to completely solve some of Roomba’s more common issues.

It’s common, for example, for Roombas (or at least my Roomba) to wedge itself under things like furniture… By the time Roomba’s front bumper hits the bottom whatever it’s gotten itself underneath, it’s already too late for it to turn around. The Robot Add-Ons solution is to give your Roomba a unicorn horn: a stick-on bit of rubber up at the front bumper that causes Roomba to register sloping obstacles much earlier, giving it time to get out on its own:

Simple and effective. Other add-ons include passive barriers that work by fooling Roomba’s edge sensors, HEPA vacuum filters, and even an entire new and improved cleaning head designed specifically to handle hair. There are some demo videos, but, um, just a warning… I watched these videos and (at first) thought that they were doing a deliberate parody of an infomercial. Now I’m not so sure about the deliberate parody part. You’ll see what I mean, after the jump.

Ultra-soft bumper:

Keep off strips and mats:

Hard floor cleaning pads:

I don’t know, it sells itself… But they can’t do this all day. Makes a great gift! Seriously though, these are some great little accessories, and your Roomba surely deserves some reward for all the vacuuming you make it do, right?

[ Robot Add-Ons ] VIA [ Robots.net ]

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