I just got my Roomba Discovery last night.... I watched in amazement as it went around my living room doing its thing... Then I watched it go into my hallway...
The hallway was perfectly clear, medium-pile carpet with about a 4" baseboard... it keeps spinning and backing into the wall. When it backs into it, it goes up and gets caught, then beeps. After about 10 minutes of watching it do this repeatedly, I was frustrated enough to put it in another room--my bedroom. It started cleaning fine, then it did the same thing. This time it backed into my night stand.... It did this two times in a row. The nightstand has nothing special about it, its basically a big wooden box with flat sides.
Then I put it back in my living room. Again, it did a good job going around... Then it got to my coffee table. My coffee table is an IKEA coffee table with 4 wooden legs that are about 1x1" at the bottom, slightly larger at the top. Pretty normal, right? Well, the Roomba *repeatedly* managed to back itself "up" onto the legs and get stuck. I also had a Dell computer box sitting on the floor (with stuff in it)... The Roomba backed up onto this as well. In all cases, I can stick my foot on the back of it, push it down, and hit the button go make it start again.... Its not really that stuck.
Why does the Roomba only sense when something is in front of it, and not behind it? How can it not just "go forward" when it backs up onto these things? It doesn't seem to attempt to move out of the situation for very long before it starats beeping. It should be smarter than this! Am I missing something obvious here?
Roomba Discovery keeps getting stuck on simple things
it continues....
last night, i ran it for a few hours... it does OK in most places, but the simplest of placest its still being fussy.
last night, it was vacuuming and went up on to a very flat door and got stuck. when it does this, it usually does the edge, then hits it at the wrong angle, spins, backs up, and bam its stuck because it backed up too fast or hard and is now not level. i'm going to give it through the weekend, and return it if i can't get it to do a simple thing like that.
has anyone had similiar experiences with the roomba discovery getting stuck by backing itself onto completely vertical surfaces (doors, walls, table legs, etc.)?
i feel like i could fix this by putting something in the back-end to either weight it down (take out the spring in the back wheel maybe?), or to prevent it from coming near things in the back... But this would be rigging it, and I'm not about to do that with a $250 vaccuum--it should just work.
last night, it was vacuuming and went up on to a very flat door and got stuck. when it does this, it usually does the edge, then hits it at the wrong angle, spins, backs up, and bam its stuck because it backed up too fast or hard and is now not level. i'm going to give it through the weekend, and return it if i can't get it to do a simple thing like that.
has anyone had similiar experiences with the roomba discovery getting stuck by backing itself onto completely vertical surfaces (doors, walls, table legs, etc.)?
i feel like i could fix this by putting something in the back-end to either weight it down (take out the spring in the back wheel maybe?), or to prevent it from coming near things in the back... But this would be rigging it, and I'm not about to do that with a $250 vaccuum--it should just work.
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notsohappycamper
I had the same experience with the Sage. It had worked perfectly for 2 days but then started getting "stuck". After cleaning and recleaning it, there was no improvement in its performance. I returned it for credit but while it was working I was very happy with it. Did I have a lemon or is the norm for the Discovery line? I'd be willing to try again if I didn't have to return it constantly.
hmmm de dumm..
I will go out and say that i have new carpet, so the thing is picking up a lot of fuzz.... I've cleaned it constantly, though. Even right after a good cleaning, it does this.
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Rick
I haven't had any problems like you are describing, so I would say to try a replacement before you make a final decision.
If it still happens with the replacement then I would assume that the Roomba just doesn't work well with your carpet. While I haven't seen it personally, I have read that there are certain types and densities of carpet that the Roomba just doesn't work well on, and you might have one of them.
Rick
If it still happens with the replacement then I would assume that the Roomba just doesn't work well with your carpet. While I haven't seen it personally, I have read that there are certain types and densities of carpet that the Roomba just doesn't work well on, and you might have one of them.
Rick
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Techfan
I can explain this to an extent.
The original Roomba could not go backwards, so it didn't need rear bump sensors. It was specificaly designed like this because it's three stage cleaning system works best when moving forward.
But in order for it's Home Base to work it needed to be able to back up.
iRobot programmed Discovery to be able to back up when it was in trouble. Most likely they thought that Roomba will rarely back up, so they did not include rear bump sensors, or they thought that it wasn't worth the extra cost. (though bump sensors shouldn't be too expensive
hmmm...)
Anyway... as for getting stuck more often, yeah, I've noticed that too. It backs up onto something and then thinks it's stuck. Or (in my case) it goes under a couch that's inclined and get's wedged under it. HOWEVER! One thing that I've noticed is that, when it gets stuck under my couch it very smartly gets itself out after a bit. The bumper on my Pro Elite is not as big, so it doesn't get stuck like Discovery.
The spring loaded wheels appear to only be able to tell whether or not they're lifted, not how much they're lifted. If they could tell how much they are being lifted the Roomba would be able to tell whether it is REALLY stuck. That would be great.
The Pros of Discovery FAR outweigh the Cons in my opinion, however, I do agree that it can be annoying.
The original Roomba could not go backwards, so it didn't need rear bump sensors. It was specificaly designed like this because it's three stage cleaning system works best when moving forward.
But in order for it's Home Base to work it needed to be able to back up.
iRobot programmed Discovery to be able to back up when it was in trouble. Most likely they thought that Roomba will rarely back up, so they did not include rear bump sensors, or they thought that it wasn't worth the extra cost. (though bump sensors shouldn't be too expensive
hmmm...)Anyway... as for getting stuck more often, yeah, I've noticed that too. It backs up onto something and then thinks it's stuck. Or (in my case) it goes under a couch that's inclined and get's wedged under it. HOWEVER! One thing that I've noticed is that, when it gets stuck under my couch it very smartly gets itself out after a bit. The bumper on my Pro Elite is not as big, so it doesn't get stuck like Discovery.
The spring loaded wheels appear to only be able to tell whether or not they're lifted, not how much they're lifted. If they could tell how much they are being lifted the Roomba would be able to tell whether it is REALLY stuck. That would be great.
The Pros of Discovery FAR outweigh the Cons in my opinion, however, I do agree that it can be annoying.
hmm!
well, that's interesting... thanks for the insight on the bumpers and wheel sensor.
my thought on "removing the spring" from the wheel wouldn't work, because I realized that the springed wheel is actually in the front, not the back?
perhaps i'm not being clear enough though, this isn't an annoyance... its such a con that if i can't figure out a work-around this vacuum is useless. it can't go for 5 minutes without getting stuck (no exaggeration here). I think one of the problems its having is it is sensing the room wrong (any room, though)... Sometimes when it gets stuck, it moves about 3" forward, back, spins, etc in a very constricted area (much smaller than the room). As its spinning and going backwards, it hits the wall on its back side and goes up on it. I've also noticed that it usually doesn't "get stuck" when it backs up to an object at a 90 degree angle, its usually when its at a 60 degree angle and the simoltaneous spinning action causes it to levitate onto it (acting like a screw, sort of). Hopefully that clears up exactly what is happening.
Anyway.... I was playing around with it last night... I found that if i kept my foot firmly planted on the back of it as it traveled around, it didn't get stuck. The extra weight kept it from lifting up as it hits things when going back. *However*, the extra weight on the back probably also causes the front to be higher than usual; I'm not entirely sure that adding the weight on back would solve anything, if its causing the vaccuum itself to not funtion as well. My carpet right now was too clean to tell how effectively it actually vacuumed, maybe that'll be tonight or this weekend's experiment. Or perhaps the next experiment will be figuring out how to return it to cye-bye
Am I being too demanding here? How do people usually use Roomba's? I had envisioned leaving it in a room, pushing the "clean" button, and leaving for work, while the Roomba went at it for a few hours. Is this naive? Right now, this is absolutely impossible, as it gets stuck (usually before I'm even out the door).
my thought on "removing the spring" from the wheel wouldn't work, because I realized that the springed wheel is actually in the front, not the back?
perhaps i'm not being clear enough though, this isn't an annoyance... its such a con that if i can't figure out a work-around this vacuum is useless. it can't go for 5 minutes without getting stuck (no exaggeration here). I think one of the problems its having is it is sensing the room wrong (any room, though)... Sometimes when it gets stuck, it moves about 3" forward, back, spins, etc in a very constricted area (much smaller than the room). As its spinning and going backwards, it hits the wall on its back side and goes up on it. I've also noticed that it usually doesn't "get stuck" when it backs up to an object at a 90 degree angle, its usually when its at a 60 degree angle and the simoltaneous spinning action causes it to levitate onto it (acting like a screw, sort of). Hopefully that clears up exactly what is happening.
Anyway.... I was playing around with it last night... I found that if i kept my foot firmly planted on the back of it as it traveled around, it didn't get stuck. The extra weight kept it from lifting up as it hits things when going back. *However*, the extra weight on the back probably also causes the front to be higher than usual; I'm not entirely sure that adding the weight on back would solve anything, if its causing the vaccuum itself to not funtion as well. My carpet right now was too clean to tell how effectively it actually vacuumed, maybe that'll be tonight or this weekend's experiment. Or perhaps the next experiment will be figuring out how to return it to cye-bye
Am I being too demanding here? How do people usually use Roomba's? I had envisioned leaving it in a room, pushing the "clean" button, and leaving for work, while the Roomba went at it for a few hours. Is this naive? Right now, this is absolutely impossible, as it gets stuck (usually before I'm even out the door).
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JJ
My neighbor had that problem on a Roomba Pro once. It's definitely not normal and your unit is defective.
I believe the spring under the front wheel is either missing or defective. He was able to work around the problem by screwing a wood screw in beneath the wheel to prevent it from retracting all the way down.
Of course, he did that because his was out of warranty. You should be able to exchange yours easily.
I believe the spring under the front wheel is either missing or defective. He was able to work around the problem by screwing a wood screw in beneath the wheel to prevent it from retracting all the way down.
Of course, he did that because his was out of warranty. You should be able to exchange yours easily.
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Techfan
It's too bad your having that problem.
I had a few problems at first. But I learned what Roomba can and can't handle. I made my whole house "Roomba proof". I love it too because now my whole house is clean and clear. We completely rearranged a lot of furniture, and totaly picked everything we could so that Roomba could clean as much space as possible.
You should go to Google and type in "Roomba proof" (with quotes).
Or visit iRobot's website, they have some tips too.
Your walls, are they at an angle? how does it go up a vertical wall?
Your floor should be completely clear.
Well I have to go. I hope things get better
Seth
P.S. I am 99% sure you just have a defective unit. I have NEVER had the problems your describing. Try to return it. By the way, never get anything else from C y e B y e (you have to type it like that) this board is having a lot of problems with them. They are just a corrupt company out to steal everyones money. They are under inspection by the Attorney General (mentioned in another thread). CAN YOU SAY: ENRON
I had a few problems at first. But I learned what Roomba can and can't handle. I made my whole house "Roomba proof". I love it too because now my whole house is clean and clear. We completely rearranged a lot of furniture, and totaly picked everything we could so that Roomba could clean as much space as possible.
You should go to Google and type in "Roomba proof" (with quotes).
Or visit iRobot's website, they have some tips too.
Your walls, are they at an angle? how does it go up a vertical wall?
Your floor should be completely clear.
Well I have to go. I hope things get better
Seth
P.S. I am 99% sure you just have a defective unit. I have NEVER had the problems your describing. Try to return it. By the way, never get anything else from C y e B y e (you have to type it like that) this board is having a lot of problems with them. They are just a corrupt company out to steal everyones money. They are under inspection by the Attorney General (mentioned in another thread). CAN YOU SAY: ENRON
wall surfing
nope my walls aren't at an angle... my table legs aren't at an angle. the dell box on my floor wasn't at an angle... my nightstand isn't at an angle... ok you get the point 
it "scales" up the wall (or anything, as its proven) by backing into it and quickly turning... when it turns, it acts like a screw would, and goes up.... then it gets too high and can't just fall down, because the front end wont slide down.
the new discovery has better wheels with better traction, i think? perhaps this is the problem (too much traction...).
not sure. i'm going to call roomba tonight and see what they say. they're the robotisists, not me ;o
it "scales" up the wall (or anything, as its proven) by backing into it and quickly turning... when it turns, it acts like a screw would, and goes up.... then it gets too high and can't just fall down, because the front end wont slide down.
the new discovery has better wheels with better traction, i think? perhaps this is the problem (too much traction...).
not sure. i'm going to call roomba tonight and see what they say. they're the robotisists, not me ;o
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Techfan
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robotreviews
- Chief Robot
- Posts: 1030
- Joined: December 26th, 2003, 1:57 am
- Contact:
I think those words are a bit harsh. As I stated in the other thread, cye-bye is an established retailer and I have no reason to believe that anyone would have any trouble if they purchased from them. As far as I can tell we have had many users of this forum order from cye-bye and as far as I know every one of them received their order as promised.Techfan wrote:By the way, never get anything else from C y e B y e (you have to type it like that) this board is having a lot of problems with them. They are just a corrupt company out to steal everyones money. They are under inspection by the Attorney General (mentioned in another thread). CAN YOU SAY: ENRON
The problem appears to be one overzealous person who works for cye-bye who apparently chose to misrepresent himself as a satisfied customer. I have no idea if he is an employee or an owner, but the sole purpose for the banning of the site name was to stop him from spamming these forums with false "satisfied customer" messages. (The ban has been removed for now, but may return if the spamming begins again.)
We still welcome any comments from legitimate cye-bye customers, good or bad.
Regards,
Craig
Last edited by robotreviews on November 22nd, 2004, 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Guest
Ok. Maybe a bit harsh.
But then why are they under the very close watch of the Attorney General?
I did some more reading about it and apparently cye-bye has been doing bad business for a long time. I don't think it's one bad employee.
And I think cye-bye is a very small company from what I've read.
Woah! If you go to Google and research cye-bye and their bad business it comes up with SSOOOOO many relevant resources.
Go check it out.
I'll keep researching this though, but for now it seems as if cye-bye is just out to scam people.
But then why are they under the very close watch of the Attorney General?
I did some more reading about it and apparently cye-bye has been doing bad business for a long time. I don't think it's one bad employee.
And I think cye-bye is a very small company from what I've read.
Woah! If you go to Google and research cye-bye and their bad business it comes up with SSOOOOO many relevant resources.Go check it out.
I'll keep researching this though, but for now it seems as if cye-bye is just out to scam people.
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Allen88
Blah, they are just plain sleazy.
They sell the Roomba Discovery for the full retail price of $249.99, but they jack up the suggested retail price to $299.99 to make it look like it's discounted.
Same thing with all of the other models. Why on earth would I want to buy from a retailer that pulls all the crap that they have, when I can get it cheaper from a reputable store?
-Jane
They sell the Roomba Discovery for the full retail price of $249.99, but they jack up the suggested retail price to $299.99 to make it look like it's discounted.
Same thing with all of the other models. Why on earth would I want to buy from a retailer that pulls all the crap that they have, when I can get it cheaper from a reputable store?
-Jane
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Techfan
Well I have an old Grandma who lives in Brooklyn.
She smokes and is 102, her birthday was last summer.
So, unfortunately, I doubt she has long to live.
I'm definitely going to visit her for christmas.
I'll go check out cye-bye then. Hopefuly they'll have shaped up by then.
Also. I don't have anything personal against cye-bye, it's employees, affiliates, customers, etc. it's just that they seem to be a mini-Enron.
She smokes and is 102, her birthday was last summer.
So, unfortunately, I doubt she has long to live.
I'm definitely going to visit her for christmas.
I'll go check out cye-bye then. Hopefuly they'll have shaped up by then.
Also. I don't have anything personal against cye-bye, it's employees, affiliates, customers, etc. it's just that they seem to be a mini-Enron.
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Guest
I think the siteadmin misposted in the wrong threat? Anyway, to get us back to the "backing up" problem: I have the same problem with my Discovery SE. After a while it stopped working completely and I am now waiting for a replacement. Btw, I ordered this unit originally in July and hope to get a replacement by the end of year. irobot created a great product but their logicitcs and customer service are pathetic. I hope competition will come in soon and wipe them out.
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puetzk
Re: wall surfing
FWIW, mine developed something very much like this after its first few runs through my house. I've also got new carpet (well, ok, not all that new, but infrequently vacuumed). In any case, it's got a lot of loose fibers yet and the roomba's getting a ton of that. I watched it in action and it seems the real culprit for this starting to happen was that it had begun to back up frequently (though for short distances), for no observable reason (as opposed to only doing so when it was stuck). I looked it over real carefully and found a some fuzz in the port on the left side of the bumper, and quite a lot behind the bumper on that side. Not sure how it all got there, as this is a long way from the brushes or suction sides.dddane wrote:nope my walls aren't at an angle... my table legs aren't at an angle. the dell box on my floor wasn't at an angle... my nightstand isn't at an angle... ok you get the point
it "scales" up the wall (or anything, as its proven) by backing into it and quickly turning... when it turns, it acts like a screw would, and goes up.... then it gets too high and can't just fall down, because the front end wont slide down.
the new discovery has better wheels with better traction, i think? perhaps this is the problem (too much traction...).
not sure. i'm going to call roomba tonight and see what they say. they're the robotisists, not me ;o
I think this is an IR proximity sensor (used for wall-following?) though I couldn't find anything helpful in the diagnostics mode descriptions online. In any case, since cleaning that out, the weird stop-reverse-stop-turn-forward motion seems to have gone away, and with it this problem of climbing into the air during the turn and getting stuck
Re: Roomba Discovery keeps getting stuck on simple things
My Discovery is defective, but its front wheel (I think) is not lifting it up enough so the Roomba is dragging the dock backwards when it tries to undock. (See my post under "New Problem I Haven't Seen Before.")dddane wrote:I just got my Roomba Discovery last night.... I watched in amazement as it went around my living room doing its thing... Then I watched it go into my hallway...
The hallway was perfectly clear, medium-pile carpet with about a 4" baseboard... it keeps spinning and backing into the wall. When it backs into it, it goes up and gets caught, then beeps.
I don't have much carpet at all (two small throw rugs by doors the Roomba can get over), so there's not that "new carpet" variable to consider...but my Roomba has NO problem getting stuck like you describe EXCEPT right by my coat rack. It gets stuck maybe 60% of the time there. It must go along the wall, run into the coat rack, and hit reverse while turning slightly into the wall, and, BINGO! it's backed up on the wall. My usual habit of yelling, "Oh, come on! Don't get stuck!" when I hear the Roomba go quiet in another room doesn't seem to work with the coat rack!
(Strangely, the yelling works for other types of getting stuck. Weird!)But where the coat rack is located is in the part of the house where I don't "Roomba and go." That's where the dog crates are, and they'd go nuts with the Roomba banging into their crates for a hour. They'd need a shrink! I do the "Roomba and go" thing down in the living room/kitchen great room, which, thankfully, is pretty Roomba-proof naturally, with a great hidden spot for the dock (that the Roomba can find easily).
Sounds like you need to return it (my Roomba NEVER gets stuck in a straight hallway with no obstacles), or at least call the nice people at iRobot. I called the number in the manual, and they answered without the phone going through any automated voice prompts (e.g., press 3 to speak to Sales). I was surprised! And she was apparently talking to one of the geeks. She'd put me on hold for a minute, then come back with an answer.
Good luck!
Amazon old lady (just .tall, not .com)
hmm... hmmm.. and hmmm
Well, thanks for the insights.
As far as the carpet fibers blocking sensors... I did notice that there were a lot of fibers in areas there shouldn't have been. I cleaned them, but they get just as much debris in them several minutes later. Anyway, talking to Roomba led me to believe it should be returned. I returned the unit to cye-bye (with their permission), and as of yet haven't received a refund (as requested). I returned it in October, so its been a good 3 and a half weeks.
As far as the carpet fibers blocking sensors... I did notice that there were a lot of fibers in areas there shouldn't have been. I cleaned them, but they get just as much debris in them several minutes later. Anyway, talking to Roomba led me to believe it should be returned. I returned the unit to cye-bye (with their permission), and as of yet haven't received a refund (as requested). I returned it in October, so its been a good 3 and a half weeks.