iRobot

I am the floor-washing robot in my house, so when the iRobot announced Scooba 230, I was beyond ecstatic, especially upon hearing it handles those tight and icky spaces around the base of the toilet.
 
In our house, I tend to leave those areas to the broom or the dog, who can happily lick up the mess if I place a treat there just so. But of course, that’s not fair to the dog — and anyone who knows me knows I really wouldn’t do that (please do not protest, PETA; I am NOT Mike Tyson!).

In stores as of March 23, the Scooba 230 — which probably should be named the Scooba 299.99 to reflect its retail price — comes from iRobot, the same people who brought you the Roomba, the robotic vacuum cleaner, as well as other Scoobas that are more expensive ($399.99 and $499.99) but cover larger areas.

This little robot — it's 3.5 inches tall and 6.5 inches in diameter — is meant for small, tight areas, perfect for around the toilet, bathtub or other gnarly spots that make sweeping or mopping such a drag.

But there are times where using a gadget or device can be more of a chore than the chore itself. That's what I thought as I charged up a review unit from iRobot, filled up Scooba 230's tank (use warm water; not hot — hot water can damage the robot) and added the special iRobot Hard Floor cleaner (although you do not have to use it; you can just use water), all in the name of saving myself the use of some paper towels and a nose clip.

The Scooba 230 is beautifully designed, but beneath its pretty shell is a robot brain that is quite particular, which is understandable: It has to deal with humans, and we don't operate as uniformly as machines are supposed to.

Therefore, there are instructions to read and to follow. And if you don't follow Scooba 230's instructions, you, like me, will find yourself with an objet d'art — or a doorstop — unless you hew to the manual.

While it's billed as plug-and-play — "Just press the Clean button and the robot does the dirty work" — Scooba 230 really takes offense at that. It implores you to learn about it, because it can be finicky. It wants you to know that it has two cleaning cycles: one is short with a "cycle time" of about 20 minutes, where Scooba 230 will cover up to about 60 square feet.; the other is a full cycle that can cover up to 150 square feet and go for about 45 minutes.

I think I spent 45 minutes just trying to set it up, and there's more to know about than just the two cleaning cycles. From the manual, for example:

"Tip: For fastest cleaning and best performance, clear your floor of clutter and large debris before running Scooba. Sweep floor prior to using Scooba."

Here's my tip: If I have to sweep before using it, I'm not going to view it as much of a help. Might as well do the whole thing myself. And that's one of the differences between this little Scooba and its larger-capacity siblings: the Scooba 350 and Scooba 380 will prep the areas you want cleaned by doing the sweep-up for you.

It is quite nifty how Scooba 230 goes about its work — it alternates between spiraling around, following along a wall and crossing a room, no matter how small (including one of our pesky, tiny bathrooms), and it seems to do a fine enough job of washing, scrubbing and drying (it has a squeegee and vacuum to pick up dirty water). 

Is it fine enough to merit $300? That's a splurge, especially these days. But, if you're disabled, or if you have physical trouble getting down on the floor to clean, the Scooba 230 could be a nice, albeit pricey, helpmate.

And the Scooba 230's technology is impressive and clever, especially in such a small package.

"The robot’s water management system includes an active reservoir that keeps the cleaning solution and the dirty water separate inside the robot," iRobot notes on its site. "While the robot is cleaning, the reservoir shrinks in size as cleaning solution is put down on the floor, freeing up space in the robot to hold the dirty water that is being picked up."

The company is highly regarded for many of its products, including Roomba, and even sent four robots to Japan recently that may be able to help with search-and-rescue efforts there. Now those are robots I can get excited about.

As far as dealing with the ick around the toilets — for now, I'll leave that task to the lowly human: me.

More about robots and/or messiness:

• Robot cleans ickiness around the toilet
• Robots en route to Japan 
• Julian Assange: Worst houseguest EVER!

Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney, who tries to keep the house clean like Adrian Monk, but has given up on that, robot or no robot.