Never use two Roombas in the same room!

[jmowreader]

Receiving dropped a huge box off in the appliance department this morning. It was full of Roombas--those little round robot vacuum cleaners. We've never had them before.

"Jim, build a display for the Roombas. Use your imagination."

So two of us turned a shelf in an endcap rack into a nice little 8-foot by 3-foot room. We put carpet and vinyl and a transition strip between the two so people could see how the Roomba can go between the two. While we were building, someone else was charging up one of the white ones and one red one. When we got done, they were ready to go.

Then the electrical department head decided to test the Roombas on the display. At the same time.

You ever see Battlebots? Well, that's what it looks like when you run two of them in the same room. We even put them on the sales floor to see if they would still fight, and they did. Somehow, they seek each other out. I don't think they'll hurt each other by fighting, but the floor won't get vacuumed.

If you have two of these, use 'em in different rooms if you want any work out of them.

[eleny]

1. Video! Pleeeeeze!

[Richardo]

2. That is *hilarious*!

We really DO need video...

[DRoseDARs]

3. Nice.

:thumbsup:

[7th_Sephiroth]

4. now i gotta buy 2 roombas

was this an intentional design?

[jmowreader]

11. I don't think it was intentional

or at least I HOPE it wasn't intentional...

Here's what I think happens: In a Roomba kit you get these little "virtual wall" things--they're used to keep the vacuum from falling down the stairs. When you put two vacs in proximity to one another, whatever the virtual-wall system uses to keep your vacuum from meeting an untimely demise causes the two machines to attract each other--and voila! Instant Battlebots!

If you decide to try the Battlevacs thing, we used one Roomba Discovery and one Roomba Red.

[7th_Sephiroth]

13. i'd rather have a moomba

[GingerSnaps]

5. Robot war?

:shrug:

[blondeatlast]

6. ROFLMAO!

Really, we need video.

I used to LOVE "Battlebots."

[UL_Approved]

7. Love at first sight

This could be a link between artificial intelligence and psychology. Looks like you got a boy pup and a girl pup...

[radwriter0555]

8. HOW MUCH FUN is that??????????? I really really really really

want one... just CUZ.

Now, of course, I want TWO.

[Lady Effingbroke]

9. lol!

jmowreader, I must say I truly enjoy reading your work-related escapades! I can just picture the two vacuum cleaners fighting it out! There is actually a Roomba community, complete with forums, where you can add a webcam and reprogram the Roomba to be a mobile security robot, etc. Strange but true.

http://www.roombacommunity.com

[ocean girl]

10. I love my Roomba! He cleans my black tile floors really, really good!

I think he might be jealous if I got another one.

[Maiden England]

12. they are terratorial?

do they pee on things to mark their territory too?

[Pithlet]

14. That's hilarious.

I've always wanted to try one of those, but now I think I'll buy two.

[Pithlet]

15. I wonder if the lawn mower versions would do the same thing.

Dueling lawn mowers.

*that was supposed to be an edit to my above post*

[Tummler]

16. Maybe they weren't fighting

Maybe they were making sweet Roomba love.

"Mommy, why are the Roombas hurting each other?"

[hunter]

17. My wife just bought one...

You make me want to buy another...