How exactly do Roombas go about their work? A particularly curious guy over at Signaltheorist set up a camera in his room for long-exposure photography, and with all the lights off in the room, let the little dustbuster get to work - shown in the picture is the dazzling result. The center of the spiral is likely where it began - continuing its outward pattern until it encounters an obstacle, and from there, it seems to just proceed in random directions. You’d think the guys at Roomba would take some time to optimize their movement algorithms to save power and maximize efficiency, but I guess not? It’s a good thing there’s plenty of hacks and mods for the Roomba, then…
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May 14, 2009 01:09 PM | by