New Roomba Leaves Old in Dust

By JAY FITZGERALD

Burlington’s iRobot Corp. today will unveil a bigger, more powerful version of its popular Roomba vacuum cleaner that whizzes around rooms on its own while sucking up dirt.

The “Roomba 500 Series” – the latest update to the original model that debuted five years ago – will be sold direct by iRobot and through retail outlets such as Best Buy and Target, the company said.

“It’s really a total reinvention,” said Sandy Lawrence, president and general manager of iRobot’s home robots unit. “Our goal is for every American to have a robot do their dirty work.”

The new Roomba, which retails from $249.99 to $399.999 (depending on added features), has new technologies that include a “light touch bumper system” that helps the mechanical marvel avoid banging into furniture.

In talking with customers, iRobot, which has sold more than 2 million of its older Roomba models, also decided it needed to improve the Roomba’s ability, via sensors, to avoid sucking up carpet tassels. That was a major concern of residential customers in the past, said Lawrence.

The new Roomba weighs about eight pounds, just over a pound more than earlier models. The battery-powered Roomba, which uses sensors to navigate around rooms, is also about a quarter-inch bigger in diameter, coming in at about 14 inches.

The Herald yesterday decided to put the new Roomba through the ultimate pre-release test: to vacuum the newsroom’s circa 1970s carpet. The verdict: a tentative thumbs up.

The Roomba easily navigated around old desks, filing cabinets and stacks of boxes. It picked up pizza crumbs, lint and even a gum wrapper.

But someone at the Herald sports desk guffawed when it couldn’t suck up a small piece of cardboard.

For the record, the Roomba’s dust bin was full when emptied by the Herald’s designated Roomba newsroom tester.

Originally published by By JAY FITZGERALD.

(c) 2007 Boston Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.